


Randomness, One-shots and One-Off's

by Leroidatboi



Category: Bloodborne (Video Game), StarCraft, Zootopia (2016), starcraft 2 - Fandom
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Norse Religion & Lore, Coming back from the dead, Genderbending, Genderswap, Juggernaut maniac, Norse, Plot Twist, Savage Nick Wilde, Space Battles, The Godfather - Freeform, getting killed, how to really get shit done, mafioso - Freeform, nighthowlers, showing other's who's boss, the mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2018-10-05 21:57:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 62,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10317848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leroidatboi/pseuds/Leroidatboi
Summary: Anything and everything that plagues my deepest darkest depths of writer's block.  Anything that shows up in here will most likely only be edited by me and nobody else.  If I catch a stroke of genius or if people show interest in seeing more of a story i've posted in here, I'll probably come back and put another or even make it into a fully fledged story.Consider this a staging area for ideas and possibly other stories.-- Leroi





	1. Getting saved by the ZBI

Judy--

It had been a full eight months since her discussion about going undercover in one of Zootopia’s ‘Terror Cells’.  This was nothing special, no matter how important it sounded; as most of these ‘cells’ turn out to be nothing but people with a grudge, all bark and no bite.  But the one that Judy had been assigned to was anything but, she had been given the smallest one as her first assignment and was to receive the rank of detective after her mission had run its course.

But here she sits, in an old run down warehouse filled with weapons.  She was to go under the guise of Heidi Hopperson, a German immigrant tired of being pushed around due to her small stature.  She had gone with them in many of their small scouting missions and helped them supply their many different FOBs as they were called (Forward Operating Base).  There were four people heading the operations that took place; John Booker, wanted for the murder of over twenty different mammals.  Martin O’Malley, wanted for being involved in two different bank heists and more murder. Vanessa Teal, wanted for treason in another country and for the murder of her husband and three other witnesses. And then there was Leonard Alexander, wanted for contract killing and the murder of eleven ZPD officers.  When I had been assigned to this group nobody had known that any of these individuals were even present, nor that they were a part of it.  But now it was time to act.

I reached for the phone in my pocket I texted the unknown number at the bottom of the list, ‘Ready for Pickup, pizzas are in the oven’ before setting the phone back to its regular position.

Third--

Bogo looked out from his office window on the third floor of the ZPD’s first precinct.  His star officer Judy Hopps had been tasked to infiltrate and get into one of the groups that the FBI of Animalia had marked as suspicious.  She had gone in being stocked and trained for it to be a two-month excursion and ended up in deep cover, in over her head in an organization with more strikes to it than some of the already recognized terrorist groups that dotted the world.  Bogo sighed as he looked down to the phone on his desk and read out the message from Officer Hopps.  It was time, he would make sure that his officer made it out in one piece, and would make sure that these cretins paid for every ounce of blood they spilt.  

One Week Later  
Judy sat in one of the bathrooms in the back of the warehouse, the week before Bogo could have organized the SWAT teams to come felt as though it was the longest week of her life.  It was hard to continue the act and had almost slipped twice now that the end was in sight.  She made sure to lock the door and keep her phone handy so that her outside contacts could get to her and exfil her to safely.

Bogo readied inside the unmarked van that was parked across the street from the warehouse that Hopps was holed up in.  Knowing that he would only have one shot at taking down the leaders and rescuing his personnel he made sure to have the FBI director on speed dial.

“Ready up teams, I want this quick. I want this clean, let’s go!” 

Three swat teams readied themselves just outside of the doors to the warehouse, each team was five mammals each awaiting a single order from the Chief.

Bogo spoke softly and first gaining volume until it was a thundering shout “All teams, attention, weapons free. GO! GO! GO!”

It appeared to be going well at first, team one breached through the sheet metal door and stormed the complex, team two breached from the second level loading dock and team three broke in the front door.  All teams had entered the building, but what they didn’t expect was that the terrorists would be ready for them.  Team one had walked into an ambush in the garage, the catwalks allowing for those part of FABE to shoot directly down onto them without any warning.  Team two had been wiped in a messy display as seven nitro-cells leveled the floor beneath them and sent them to their untimely demise.

Only team three was still active, the others were dragging each other from their breach points.  The sounds of grenades, flash bangs, and gunfire was rampant as the calls for backup and medics sounded through the radio channels.

Bogo reached for his phone after he heard the explosions go off, dialing the only person he knew that could remedy the situation. “Director, I assume you’ve heard of our most recent operation concerning FABE?”

“Why Bogo, are you admitting that you should have let us handle this before it got bad?”

With gritted teeth “GOD DAMN you, good mammals are dying right now, I need that assistance ASAP.”

“We’re already enroute, TUSK squad one is best equipped for this type of job and will be onsite in 3.  They are two clicks out.”  Director Snaperson placed his cell on the table before grabbing his radio to check with TUSK one.

“TUSK one, when you arrive on-site, give me a sitrep when first available.  We have one undercover op inside the building, a small female rabbit- one officer Judy Hopps.  Remember to check before you shoot, no unnecessary bodies.”

“This is Stitches, TUSK one, dropping in now.”

Bogo jumped from his chair when he heard the sound of a chopper briefly overhead followed by the sound of paws impacting the roof of the van.  Confidently he strode to the door and swung it open, only to come face to face with five mammals dressed in FBI body armor hefting assault rifles. “Are you guys TUSK one?” he asked incredulously.

The elite five mammal team consisted of one rhino, a tiger, one lion, a fox, and one polar bear.  The first one to speak was the lion, “That’s who we are, I need a sitrep immediately. Can you prove confirmation of an undercover detective from the ZPD?”

Bogo reply came on auto pilot; he was focused on the fox that was peeking out from behind one of the van doors looking towards the roof.  Bogo was about to question why the fox appeared to be watching the roof as he raised his rifle and put three shots out. 

“Itchy trigger their friend?” Bogo jested

“No, just didn’t want any unnecessary eyes watching.” Came the swift reply of the fox, the moment he finished a zebra slipped off the edge and plummeted down to the ground; felled by the three shots from the fox’s rifle. “Hey Buffalo Butt, guess you can say he took the fast way down” as he flipped his shades off.

Bogo stared at the fox for a moment before it all clicked, “Nicholas Wilde?”

“The one and only”  
“How? And why? I thought you were in the academy to join the ZPD?”

With a sigh “My skills were better suited for this line, we will be assisting you more often now” reaching a paw up to massage his muzzle “The FBI thinks you’re in over your head with this FABE, and that we will be supporting you for the remainder of these ops.”

Whilst Nick conversed with the Chief about possible issues concerning the FBI and their now complete handling of what used to be his case.  The Lion had called in for a gear drop,” I need gear for TUSK one, tactical drop. Repeat, gear for; Stitches, Stare, Flak, Spark, and for Rogue as well.”

The disembodied voice from dispatch replied almost immediately and without falter, “Gear request Granted, Good hunting TUSK One.”

Bogo could hear it before he could see it, a single jet literally thundered overhead, sitting at a close two thousand feet for a tactical drop under the radar.  Bogo took cover as the first two crates impacted followed by a fourth, he peeked out of the van only to snap back in as the fifth crate smashed into the sidewalk just to the left of his van.

“You trying to get us killed in here? Watch where you drop those things!” He stated with much alarm.

“No promises Chief, you said the undercover is Officer Judy Hopps correct?”

“T-that would be correct”

Nick--

Looking out from my position behind the van, I input my codes into the lock on the crimson gear crate labeled ‘rogue’. The pneumatic hiss of a reply was music to my ears as I reached in to retrieve my armor and weapons; the Maniac Mk 5 armor was my choice to bring with me.  The heavily plated Kevlar suit that had been tailored to my specs was my most prized possession, it was aptly named the Manic entirely due to my use of it.  Take a lithe, strong, fast fox and add juggernaut armor that doesn’t restrict any of those prior traits.  Before you add the icing on top, the heavyset titanium alloy clawed gloves and a matching hydraulic maw that fits over the mask to allow for a very select form of fighting.

Nick had never been one to look nature in the face and forget to say his thanks for his evolutionary traits that allowed him to prey on those he found himself at odds with.  The armor was a complete protection that allowed him to be the fastest in the group, with both armor and the potential power to match.  He was a deadly maniac in the field and he loved it.

Stitches is a tiger; he is Tusk One’s medic.  He also was, by far, the best field medic in history.  Able to do complete surgeries and triage under fire, also having the uncanny ability to hear the heartbeats of those he tended to allowed him to work at an alarming rate.  His gear drop was his favorite rifle with an under barrel shotgun, portable defibrillator, and enough medical supplies to stitch someone to the ceiling.

Spark is a Lion; she’s always been able to fiddle her way around electronics, able to tap into anything that had a charge and turn it into something useful.  Her gear crate contained her DMR with a red dot sight, a small defusal kit, some wiring tools, and some emp grenades.  Her excuse for the latter of the items was ‘You can never have enough stuff, and these ones go ’ZAP’’’.

Stare is the group’s sniper, as a polar bear he has the second largest size of the group and carried a rifle to match.  His track record for sniping had preceded him even before he joined the borough, having almost six confirmed missions before he was an active agent.  Able to snipe with anything that fired a projectile, he was the master of angles.  His crate contained his light armor, a shotgun with enough explosive shells to lay waste to a whole city block, and his baby; a thirty millimeter anti-material rifle that packed enough of a punch to make whatever it hit disappear.

The last to get his gear ready was Flak, a young rhino in his twenties, Flak was the support of the group.  He carried a large machine gun with a ballistic shield that fits over it to protect his head and torso, heavy armor, and his extra large crate contained as much.  But his tool of choice was a large anti-everything cannon mounted to his gear that allowed him to shoot anything and everything to dust if it decided to get in the way.  He was the slowest of the group as well as the second most heavily armored behind Rogue (Nick).

Looking out of the ballistic face shield that covered my muzzle, I readied the suit’s maw for a test.  Grabbing an iron pipe that I always had packed with my suit, I carefully placed it inside the metal jaws; ones that matched with my own.  Before slamming them shut, the clattering sound of metal all I needed to hear as I opened my mouth once more, revealing the doubled rows of teeth; one natural, the other a mechanical alternative.

“Spark, cut the power, I want to have some time in the dark” I yelled out

True to our track record, we advanced on the building quickly, Stare having taken up a nest on the roof adjacent to the target.  Spark was already severing power lines leading to the warehouse.  Flak was covering our advance, Stitches stacked on the other side of the door to me and we readied to enter. 

Whispering into my headset radio, the metal jaws moving in tandem, “remember, one civvie, a bunny age 26 grey.  Will be in hostage position and away from the others, check yourself before you open up.” not even waiting for the affirmative for what I knew was already known “breach in 3, 2, 1 GO!”

I was through the door in an instant, bolting away from the light and into the main room well ahead of the others.  Looking around in the darkness I found my first targets and dispatched them with ease.  

As the squad began to wipe the building level by level, it was becoming increasingly obvious that most of them had evacuated just after the initial assault.  My body count had racked up to almost fifteen by the time I came across a locked door in the back of the warehouse proper.

Judy--

 I sat there in the bathroom, waiting for the gunshots to wind down and for familiar officers to come in and take me out.  But it never came, sure the shots stopped, but it was because the SWAT had been crushed and wasn’t going to be able to come in and save me.  A thousand things began to roll through my mind as worry and panic set in, ‘what can I do!’ I kept thinking to myself.  Completely unaware that the Chief had made the call for backup, I sat there on the edge of the sink waiting for someone to come and find me in one of the warehouse bathrooms.

Remembering that I had my phone with me, I looked to see if I could call anyone, but I decided against it with my better judgment as the shouts from my ‘colleagues’ were getting louder and louder.  They were searching for me, I knew it, they were going to find me and kill me, ‘dear lord’ was the last thought I had before I heard something come through my headphones.

“I repeat, officer Hopps, this is Bogo on a repeat channel.  We have called in for TUSK reinforcements from the FBI, they will be on scene in approximately four minutes.  When they breach you must be on the floor with your hands on your head.  This is for your safety; you must comply with these or you could be seen as an active combatant.  DO NOT DRAW A WEAPON.” 

So I sat there in the bright light of the bathroom for almost three minutes when the lights went out, I knew it had to be them.  So I placed myself in the ‘hostage’ position and waited for them to come and extract me from the building.  Little did I know that three others would have a similar idea and try to hole up in the bathroom as well.

Nick--

I reached for the handle, being cautious to not be too rash in the case that the door is trapped.  So I opted to throw the door open as wide as possible and leap through the door and into the room beyond.  ‘A MANIAC’ I thought to myself.

The moment the door opened, I immediately saw that I was face to face with one of the FABE members. So I leapt at him, slashing with my clawed right paw, using the knife in my right paw to turn him and use him as a shield as I took my time surveying the room to see who else was inside.

My vision fell on two other lackeys, one with a pistol and the other with a shotgun.  Behind them was a small pile of grey fur sitting under the edge of the sink with her paws over her head.

‘Judy’ I thought to myself

The next moments went so fast, the little light that was projected through the now open door was enough to illuminate me for them, the shotgun wielding wolf began to fire in my direction, the armor making satisfying noises as it deflected each pellet.  I sprung into motion diving onto the one with the pistol, finding purchase with both the knife and the claws, I pulled him close and let my steel maw clamp shut on his neck.  It took only moments, but the sound of a snapping spine was very audible in the dark.

Unfortunately for me, that guy had bought his partner just enough time to allow him to reload. The impact of the shotgun hitting me at point blank in the chest was enough to sling me back into the wall, which I hit with surprising force considering the high gauge of the shotgun.

The shotgun toting wolf reached down and grabbed for the switch on the tactical flashlight mounted to the end of the barrel.  What it illuminated for those in the bathroom was not a pretty sight; A fox sized mammal wearing a full body juggernaut suit, holding a large serrated knife in one paw and the other gloved with an immensely large set of claws attached, his maw outlined in titanium that reached fully around his head and down into the back of the suit.  The worst thing so far that the light granted them vision to was to the buckets of blood that coated every inch of the mammal’s body, he had been drenched in it and it was a very unsettling sight.

The armored figure began to stir, to the horror of the wolf, and to the joy of the rabbit.  Nick righted himself, feeling that he was still intact and that his armor had fully blocked everything.  He began to advance once more on the wolf, the bright light becoming blinding as the muzzle flash lit up the small space.

Judy--

I closed my eyes, after I saw the figure get back up, I knew that I couldn’t watch it happen. I had seen too much already and it was very horrific to watch the mammal continue his slaughter, even if it was to save her.

Almost a minute had passed in silence after the figure got to its feet, and I was curious, I had no idea what to expect.  Only to open my eyes to see directly into the jet black faceplate of the figure’s mask.

Judy didn’t know what to expect, and what she got was nothing short of a dusey.  

“Ready for a ride Carrots?”

“Nick? Is that you?”

“The one and only, here to save the day.  But in all seriousness, I need you to come with me” he stated as he grabbed her and held her close to his chest.  Placing the knife back into its sheath on his leg and wrapping both paws around her to hold her close to his torso.

“This is Rogue, TUSK one I have the package.  Basement and floor one are clear” Stated Nick as he began to run for the giant hole in the door.

He was going to have some explaining to do, and it was going to happen sooner rather than later.  “I want some goddamn answers NICK!” I screamed as we passed out of the building and back into the light.


	2. He who stalks the Shadows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This one definitely got away from me during my initial writing. Really does fit in similarly with the What have they done to you series, but it's not quite the same. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> \-- leroi

The only thing that was running through Judy’s mind as she ran from the building, her paws carrying her as fast as possible down the front steps and to her cruiser.  She grabbed the radio and began to scream through it. “Clawhouser, we have a hostage situation downtown Sahara square, officer down I repeat Officer W-w-Wilde DOWN! Requesting backup!”

As the final words broke through her muzzle, she slid down the side of the cruiser’s door, sobs drowning whatever thoughts she would have had to calm herself.  Her partner's final moments playing on rerun in her head; he had taken four bullets to the chest and one to the head protecting her from that, that madman.

She cried and cried, and sobbed silently when there were no more tears to cry.  It was only stifled by the oncoming barrage of sirens as their sound and light drowned out everything else.  Only vaguely paying attention as the chief gently shook her before stacking up with the other officers by Judy and Nick’s cruiser.  She slowly came back to her senses as the barrage of questions died down, scanning the assembled officers for Bogo she began to gibber about Wilde’s current status- deceased.  Upon hearing those fateful words come from none other than Nick’s partner he organized the other officers and began to rush towards the building.  They stopped just before the door organizing one last time before Bogo reached for the doorknob.

Nick knew that they had an issue, someone from his past had come back, someone that unfortunately he would never have been able to either outsmart or hustle through, a nightmare he had hoped was long forgotten.  But there he lay, again in a different yet eerily similar house to the one from long ago, that manic doctor; those terrible, terrible experiments.  The moment he saw the front door, and within, the same manic face of that butcher’s kid.  He was watching, all those times, watching as his father tore us apart before throwing us messily back together.

He knew what would happen if he took those bullets for her, he knew what would happen once the ZPD broke down that door only to find him in one piece, mostly.  But know he had a bigger issue, this crazy buck that had put five bullets into his body, was sitting in a chair just opposite him and was watching him intently. “I know who you are Wilde, I remember what father did, what I will finish.” the deer said, a sad smile spreading across his face as he turned back to Nick’s motionless body. “But don’t worry, if it really isn’t you, then you won’t feel a thing cuz’ in that case… you’re already dead.”

Nick understood the gravity of the situation, although, the deranged Doctor’s son obviously didn’t understand the work his father had put into what he had done to those kits.  The reason that this Butcher’s house had burned down with them all in it, and this deer had made one grave error; the late doctor wasn’t able to finish it because it was no longer possible, his last creation was an imperfect one, but one with no end.

Nick couldn’t hear the steps and the movement behind the front door as he sprung into action, taking a leap across the room.  His impaired vision not giving him enough depth perception to land on his intended target, allowing the gibbering fool another scant few seconds of evasion before he found his mark.  With Marconi backing away from the now mobile Nick, he began to reach for the second magazine for his pistol, as he slid the clip into the gun and taking aim at him once more, his knife now a long forgotten thought littering the floor in an adjacent room.

Nick stood still once more, his muscles tensing, as a red light began to glow from within his ruined eye.  It shone with enough hatred to petrify Marconi as he took that final leap, one that wouldn’t miss, all to tear Marconi apart.  As his hind legs left the dusty ground of the old home, the front door swung open to reveal the shocked face of the chief and four other officers; Delgato, McHorn, Fangmyer, and Howler.  They stood stock still for the seconds that passed, long enough for Marconi to empty his clip into the rapidly approaching Nick Wilde, as he clamped his jaws deep into his throat and his claws to the heart.

Blood pooled beneath the two supine forms as Bogo reached down to both the downed officer and the suspect.  He had almost bridged the gap when Nick whirled back, tearing a section of Marconi’s throat with him, his paw being fully unsheathed from the ribcage of the second downed form.  Nick’s jaws opened slowly releasing the hunk of flesh trapped between, his single red eye glowing in stark contrast to the perfect emerald reflection from the other.  Blood poured away from both of the two forms and Nick stumbled back and slammed into the now closed door and slid down into a sitting position, breathing heavily as his gaze drifted between Marconi’s corpse and the small group of officers that were slowly stepping back and away from the new danger.  Darkness invaded his senses, knowing that it would be gone soon, it was a calm sleep that he slipped into.  Something unknown to all others present. 

Nick knew he would have to explain at least some of what had happened, after all they had all just seen him take at least one full clip, and heard from Judy that he had died shielding her from the ‘madman’ in the old musty house. He was barely aware of the others picking him up and carrying him to the stretcher, the ride back to the precinct was even less so.  When the medical examiner's quickly looked over his now motionless body, they didn’t see the red glow in either of his eyes, what they saw was an officer that had taken ten bullets in random places in his body. One that had given his life for a fellow officer, and had miraculously survived a full on shot to the head, only to give it up again, in service to his fellow officers when he put an end to Marconi.

Nick’s body was brought to the basement of the precinct to be examined by the coroner, pity to anyone who was to look upon this mess.  Nick was full of holes, and appeared to be in awful shape, a few jagged tears through his flesh where it was obviously cut with a serrated knife as well as obvious bruising to his head and torso.  Damian, the new coroner, set about the long and arduous task of pulling the bullets out of the officer’s body making sure to treat him as best as possible; he had grown up believing that until one was buried, their soul could never find peace.  After he had removed the nine shots, he moved to Wilde’s unmoving face, a gentle limpness permeating his features, as if he had completed his final task before moving on; it was all very peaceful, for the moment.  The doctor used the forceps and the winged gripper to gently pull the lodged round out of his body.  The moment it was removed, it seemed as though the remaining tension in Wilde’s body just melted away; the coroner took it with a drop of blood, chalking it up to a pinched set of cranial nerves behind the orbital socket.

The Doctor walked away from the body on the table, going to grab his final set of tools to embalm the late Nicholas Wilde before his body would be prepared for his now upcoming funeral.  Nick had other plans, while he didn’t want the doctor to be present when he ‘rose from the grave’ a second time.  He decided that it would be best to take it slow as to not startle anyone or have anyone do something rash.  With the round removed from his cranium his eye had begun to fix itself, while not necessary to have it removed, it made the process both more comfortable and less time consuming.  He blinked several times as his vision came back to the right side of his body, with it came the increased mobility from the now healed wounds that were spread across his body.

Adonis Bogo had seen and heard many horrible things in his time as an officer, as a detective, and finally as a chief of police.  But he never expected someone as street smart as Wilde to have gotten into a position like this, while he valued the valor and willingness to give of oneself to protect others, it wasn’t something he was too keen on having his officers give their lives if they didn’t need to.  Something was up though, Officer Hopps had radioed in that she and Wilde had gone to inspect the house for their suspect, and had entered.  For a short time, they had gone silent, but then in a spark of crazed lunacy, Hopps radioed in once more in a fit of near madness that her partner had died protecting her, that the maniac had shot Wilde a full four times in the body and put a fifth in his skull before searching for her- something Bogo found to be incredulous at best.  Then the fact that Wilde was completely mobile when they breached the ruined house, not only that, but was mobile and strong enough to take another five shots and kill the perp… with his bare paws and teeth.  None of this sat right with the Chief, he knew that foul play had to be a part of this.  Especially since Marconi was the son of that kit-butcher that called himself the “Dr. Death”, a madman with hopes of making Preds completely compliant to their “prey-overlords” something that was utterly insane, but it was ominous.  Bogo was a fresh detective when he was sent in to investigate the burning building deep in the Rainforest District, those mangled corpses he found in the basement.  And the body of one adult male deer fully blocking the only exit from the basement, his notes however had made it through somewhat.  They detailed the manic desires of a hopeful demon hell bent on enslaving a portion of the Zootopian populous to create a safer place for the prey to live in peace.  To reduce the Predators to nothing but shells of their former selves, completely subservient.

Bogo knew that something was up, especially with the re-appearance of Marconi.  The late doctor’s notes detailed six test subjects, only five were found in that basement.  There were set-ups for all six, there were even cages for them, but there was no sixth body; no matter how hard they looked it was nowhere to be found.  Leading the ZPD to believe that whomever it was had escaped, and was most likely traumatized to no end.  So the ZPD put out an APB on anyone matching that description, but as the years passed on they slowly gave up the search believing the worst had happened.  But even Bogo didn’t know what had truly happened in that basement, but he soon would.

Nick slowly rose from his position on the table, swinging both legs down off the edge he searched the room for something he could use to cover himself.  Spotting his clothes and personal affects from his ZPD lockers he quietly strode towards them, he donned his pants and his shirt now full of holes, but thankfully not soaked in blood anymore.  He grabbed his gym jacket and began to kit back up partially, deciding that it would be best to leave a note for the coroner he quickly wrote one up.

“Dear Friend;

I understand what this must look like, but I am not crazy and nor are you. I have grabbed my personal affects and am currently putting them back into my locker, I am also planning on taking a shower in the gym locker room, if you have any pertinent questions please feel free to ask.  And if you get to the chief first, please ask if I can have some overtime please, your table is very uncomfortable.

-Nick Wilde ZPD

The Coroner Walked back into the room only to find the table full of personal affects empty, as well as the examination table.  Only a small handwritten note remaining to even signify that another mammal had been down there at all.  The small plastic container that had the bullets in it was even neatly placed on his desk, the blood on the table had been obviously wiped up and the same was done to the floor.  What scared him the most though, wasn’t the absence of the Officer’s body, but was the bloody paw prints leading up the steps to the ZPD’s main floor.  Thinking fast, Damian grabbed the note and bounded up the stairs faster than anyone thought a bear could.  He flew up the next two flights all the way to the chief’s office, panting, he berated the door with his fists.  The chief was not going to like this one bit.

Nick could hear the coroner run as the poor bear lumbered up the many steps in the ZPD’s many stairwells, chuckling to himself as he swiped his badge at the door and entered the Locker Room.  Thankfully at this time of night it was empty, there were no other officers there tonight, and he would have the peace and quiet that he so desperately needed at the moment.  His items went swiftly into his locker and himself to the showers, the dried blood and matted fur slowly became a non-issue as the water ran hot and the soap worked its magic.

Nick was startled out of his silence and brooding when he heard the locker room door swing open, and didn’t immediately swing closed, ‘strange’ he thought to himself.  It must have been a few officers if they had to hold the door, he walked out of the shower stall and towards his towel and clean clothes.  Donning the towel like a toga he began to peer into the darkness, unfortunately as soon as the six figures came into view the lights came on and nearly blinded him.  As the ringing white cleared from his vision he saw the same four officers that were behind the door when he and Marconi barged out, the Chief, and that poor coroner.  He stared blankly back at them as they speechlessly looked back.  It was as if nobody wanted to break the silence that had blanketed the room.

The chief was the first to let his questing mind get the better of him.  “How did you do it Wilde? What kind of sick joke was this?  Are we going to find Marconi totally fine too? Do you even understand the gravity of the situation, what you’ve put the rest of this precinct through, what you’ve put your partner through?” The chief started his questions at a low whisper before long he was yelling at the fox before him.  All his anger, all his ire was met with a single sad stare from the accused party; Nick hadn’t cracked a joke, didn’t try to play it off, but simply looked towards his assembled comrades with naught but sorrow. “I didn’t chief, I faked none of it. And if any of you think for one minute that I don’t care for the repercussions of this instance you are sorely mistaken.” before looking back at the more accusatory glares from his coworkers “And if you ever even think about accusing me of doing something so unbecoming as to fake my death to hurt the people around me, I will make sure that you and Marconi have a long, long time to work out what just happened.”  Wilde’s final threat hanging heavy in the air as he flitted his angry glare to and fro each of the mammals in front of him.  When none of them dared to even speak a word he turned his back to them and grabbed his clothes, he knew that they would want answers and knew they wouldn’t leave till they got at least some.  So he dressed in silence as the others watched him move, their cold frightened stares burning into his back.  When he heard the Coroner, Damian, gasp as he twisted back towards them and put his shirt back on.  Revealing the crisscrossed shapes carved into his chest, some appeared to be medically related as they matched the autopsy patterns, others matching that of surgeries and transplants.  Something awful had happened and they had just accidentally scratched the surface of those inky depths.

Nick quietly strode out of the locker room and towards the stairs leading to the second and third floors, he saw a familiar bundle of grey fur sitting on one of the benches in the bullpen as he, under orders from Bogo, opened the stairwell and began his ascent to the Chief’s office.  Little did anyone else know, Judy had seen the flash of russet fur passing the edge of her vision, playing it off as a mere shade from her imagination she refused to look towards it.  But eventually her curiosity got the better of her, she snapped her attention to the stairwell just in time to see the back of a fox disappear into it, followed by the Chief, McHorn, Delgato, Howler, and that new coroner they just hired; Damian.  Her curiosity carried her to the stairwell and up with them all the way to the chief’s office, she heard small snippets of what was being said.  But to her it sounded like someone asking for forgiveness, but one thing stood out to her, and it was clearly Nick speaking.  “Chief, I can smell Judy… she’s following us.” Nick quickly took a second to collect himself “I can’t keep her in the dark, please let her come in with us” he begged

A flit of horror and shock spread through her as she watched the other officers turn to face her.  The chief’s voice was the only sound to be heard in the solemn silence,” Alright Wilde, but I expect a better explanation than ‘I Dunno’” he pointedly stated.  With that, Judy came out from behind the small plant she was crouched behind and followed the others into the Chief’s office.  Once inside, Nick quickly turned on a heel to face the coroner.

“Damian, I know you are a new-hire here and this is probably a big pill to swallow on your first week at the job.  But you didn’t mess up anywhere, I can guarantee to you that you did an excellent job removing those rounds.  Most doctors aren’t so polite to the dead, believing that they are long gone, no longer around to understand or feel what happens to them.”  His final words were laced with a gratitude that seemed to span an endless gap of sorrow, regret, and happiness.  Before Nick turned back to the chief and sighed, “Where do you want me to start?”

“Well, I have an idea, but it’s not one that I want to fancy… it’s something rather dark, and one that I only need to ask one question for.  Did you ever come into contact, past, present, or otherwise with one Doctor Michael Deerbrooke?”  The chief watched Nick’s reaction with gusto as a sharp flit of fear crisscrossed his face before slipping away behind a grim, but calm, facade.  

“A long time ago, well into my youth I had.  It was a long winter, me and my brother John were living out on the streets at that point.  And that vile creature offered us a place warm to stay, food in our bellies, and hope that at some point we could make our lives better for ourselves.  Little did we know, the doctor had other plans for us, and for those other poor kits he had scraped out of the street life.”  Nick had begun his quiet answer hoping that at some point the chief would dismiss all those not pertinent to their discussion as some of these memories were very, very personal.  Something he wasn’t willing to outright share with the whole force yet.  As if sensing this, the chief looked to the other four officers and asked them to keep this tight lipped until further notice, and to wait outside the door to have a meeting after they were done.  Then asking the coroner to keep his medical discoveries and other such information regarding the current issue at hand to himself, as well as filing away of any notes he had taken relating to the recent ‘death’ of Officer Wilde.  As they all dutifully exited the room, the three remaining occupants shifted their gazes around the room until the majority fell upon Nick.  “Nick, we need you to tell us what happened to you” Judy consoled, the worry and fear in her voice was thankfully not of him, but for him.

Taking a deep breath, Nick found his voice, “We had stayed with the doctor for some time before strange things began to happen, at first we both shook it off as nothing.  But it became more and more obvious that the doctor had been studying us, something was horribly wrong, but that night when we tried to leave.  He drugged the both of us and locked us in his basement with those other poor kits, there was only one doorway out, and one doorway in.  It was always padlocked shut and he had the key, his kid Marconi came down to ‘visit’ us every once and awhile, it was strange to see him.  He had changed, he was meaner and darker than he had in previous.  Every time he came into the basement he hurt one of us, he always came down while we were sleeping, and left as we woke.  One of us always screaming in pain, a new cut, bruise, or broken something; but that was just the beginning, there was o’ so much more to go.  The six of us were completely unrelated aside from me and my brother, although, all of us were orphans with no family and had been on the street for some time.  We lived in fear for a couple weeks before the Doc got his holiday time and began to try some of his ‘experiments’ always harping that he was trying to make Zootopia safer for the prey by destroying the Preds.  He decided that he would ‘tame’ us with his little reward/torture methods, but when those failed he switched to something much worse.  He drugged us for hours, days, weeks, I have no idea.  But it affected us strangely, caused us to be more… more suggestive, unwilling to do as he asked, but doing it none the less.” taking a breath before continuing, Nick wiped a tear from his muzzle before taking his next shaky breath.

“But eventually we built up immunities to his drugs too, and that failed him.  His final  
and most desperate attempt to create what he wanted so bad was a battery of surgeries and medical treatments that, to this day, I have yet to understand… nor do I want to.  They affected all six of us differently, some were what he called a success.  They were only shells of their former selves, everything but base instinct gone.  And then there were others, like me and my brother that despite everything had managed to survive, we had managed to keep our sanity, and despite it all.  We had yet to experience the worst of it.  He had concocted a strange red liquid that did, well, something awful.  He stuck both of us with it, and we both died that night, suffering from horrible pain and repetitive seizures.  Even though we died, in horrible and painful ways, we kept coming back, neither of us stayed gone for long, similar to tonight chief, and when we came back. It was us who set fire to the basement, and it was us who attempted to kill all eight of us.  Marconi, his father Michael, Dana, John, Myself, Mick, Ricky, and James.  We set fire to that basement hoping that it would take us with it, but when the smoke cleared I was unscathed.  The others had met their doom, and then their makers, but I had survived again.  A gift and a curse from that damned doctor.” the final words were laced with a venom so horrible that Judy could almost taste it in her throat.  But all watched as Nick rolled his shirt up and rooted around in his upper-arm fur to reveal a crisscross pattern complete with the imprint of a hoof with crisscrossed scalpels.

Judy wept into Nick’s shoulder as his bravado slipped, that same worry and fear that he had when she had first broken his barriers resurfacing once more.  “C-chief…” Nick started, his emotions finally getting the better of him “What’s going to happen, to this I mean?”  He asked with a shaky voice, obviously hinting towards his ruined uniform and the gilded badge hanging on the right shoulder, unable to articulate more than a few words at a time as pent up tears streaked down his muzzle.

“No Wilde, nothing is going to change, you’ve done nothing wrong aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  But promise me next time you’ll say something before this is how we have to figure it out.  I’ll need some statements, and we’ll need to seal some records, but I’m glad that we finally found you.” Sighed the Chief “I can finally close that APB we put out on a young fox kit...  not to mention closing that twenty-year-old cold case. I’m just surprised that you never mentioned anything, especially something so serious. Or for that matter, how you managed to get through the ZPA medical screening without tripping more than a few of the tests” Even the shock in the Chief’s voice couldn’t betray the kindness and happiness he felt to finally have gotten some form of justice for that poor kit in that basement all those years ago.

“I didn’t know if it was really you, and I never wanted anyone to get any ideas concerning my somewhat checkered past.  But remember, if you ever need someone to do something stupid and dangerous, I know a guy that can handle it.” Nick joked, lightly, his words began full of regret, but it melted away back to the way he always was, but this time it was genuine.

As Nick and Judy left the precinct, she leaned over and asked “the other officers that pulled you out of that house said something about a glowing eye, what’s that all about?”.  Nick’s reply was full of that same confidence that he always strived to uphold.  “What, these ones?” as his words slipped past, his eyes seemed to fill red; each giving off an eerie glow as they watched her with intent.  But before she could wonder about them in depth, they disappeared much faster than they had appeared.  His reply was a heartfelt one, though still rife with that same smarmy air of belligerent confidence his conning days had gifted him with.  “Perhaps next time you head out to bunny burrow you can take me with you and we can scare the life out of your family.”  He could hardly stifle the laughter that crackled out of him. “But for tonight, I could really use some rest, and I think you could too.  But fortunately I think the Chief gave us some time off.” 

Little did they know, it was approaching much faster than they thought. 

After yesterday’s incident at the abandoned house in the rainforest district, they were headed to the Hopps family farm for some much desired time off of our stressful job.  The train left the Zootopia Central Station at 8pm.  It was a forty-minute train ride, fortunately it went without a hitch.  

Nick looked around occasionally during the ride and found that he caught Judy visually tracing the now very noticeable tattooed lines in his fur.  They stretched across his limbs and down his tail, up the back of his neck, and down his legs.  They were just as noticeable as they were before their incident, but now that Judy knew what she would look for they became much more visible.

“Starin’ don’t work fluff, I’ve tried…. They’re permanent I think” Nick stated, breaking the silence

“Yeah, sure… but can’t you dye over them? I mean like, dye it red too?”

“No, it's strange… The doc must have done something to me on those lines because the fur only grows that color and it doesn’t dye to anything else.”

“That’s awful... You know he did things, and know most of the terrible things… but you are still figuring out what exactly happened, it's just plain wrong.”

“Yeah, it is.  But he’s long gone, and so is his tyrant of a child… they won’t be back to hurt anyone anytime soon.”

“I still can’t believe that this is true, what he did is a medical miracle… it could cure anything, but that he used it to such a horrendous effect for no reason… I just don’t get why people would support such a cause.”

“Car- Judy, what he did is no miracle.  He killed me, I should be dead… but instead I am forced to walk this coil for what I can only assume is the rest of my days. Destined to survive anything and everything, I’ve watched so many die for me; none knowing or realizing that it wouldn’t make a fucking difference, that I would just get back up.  And it cured nothing, it only made my life a blinding path of pain and anguish.”

Judy reached out and grasped his paw, holding it close before pulling him into a comforting embrace.  “Don’t worry slick, you’ve got friends and the police, an-and me to be with you.  No more anguish or pain, you hear?”

Nick let out a soft chuckle, “Yes Carrots, yes I do.  There is something else, if this week goes well, poorly, I’ll share”

3 Days Later--

Nick stood with his back to the window in the small room that he was sharing with Judy at the Hopps farm.  Three grey figures stood opposite him in the room, one carrying a rabbit sized shotgun, another with a bloody kitchen knife, and the last with her back to the door; making sure it stayed shut.  Judy had gone out to the market with Bonnie to get some pies and to get some fixings for the night’s dinner, tonight was their last night at the farm and Judy’s parents wanted to make a feast of a dinner for the family.

Stu must have been out of the house, or at least downstairs busy with something because these three had caught him off guard when they came into his room with a weapon and started threatening him.

“What do you want?”

“We want to know what you did to Judy?”

“What do you mean? I’ve done nothing!”

“She hated Preds before she left for Zootopia, she despised you foul foxes too.  But here she comes, prancing back home with you!” the last word spat with such venom it made him flinch.

“So what are you gonna do, I haven’t done a thing to her.  She invited me to her house to spend our time off from our job.  Which I might add is working at the ZPD, so coming in here with a weapon, attacking me, and further threatening my life is a punishable offence worthy of nearly fifteen years of jail time.  So if you get the fuck out I might consider not calling the local police immediately!” he seethed

One of the taller bucks spoke up next. “Don’t worry your untrustworthy filth, we don’t care to let you leave this house alive.  I’ve got some friends coming to help dispose of you once we finish.” as he finished his threat, he rolled his sleeve down to reveal a tattoo of crossed knives with the words “Sic Semper Preds” written around it.

“So what do you plan on doing asshole, you gonna kill me… then what? Gonna run away, hope to god that the cops don’t catch you? The moment you kill me, the three of you are done for” Nick threatened back

“That's the idea fox, I plan on killing you and skinning you for your red pelt.  The boys will hold it for me until I get out of prison, I will wear you like a fucking coat you shitbag!”

“Careful, you might draw your father’s attention. Who knows what might happen if he comes up here”

“I wouldn’t worry about him, he’s busy outside.  Told em the truck wouldn’t start, I bet he’ll be out there trying to fix nothin for another thirty or forty minutes at least.”

“What about Judy and Bonnie, what if they come home before you finish your little gig?”

“Then we’ll just have to speed things up then won’t we?”

The furthest figure from Nick, the doe, grabbed a recorder from her pocket.  “Beg for your life, bitch” she stated simply.

“You better just fucking kill me” he replied back

Both Bonnie and Judy were on their way back from the market, the truck laden down with tones of goodies.  Some blueberry pies, fresh from Gideon, and plenty of other foods; they had even gotten a small salmon for Nick if he wanted.

They had only been gone for thirty minutes by the time they got back, Bonnie had called in advance to get her orders in before the big rush of customers that would have kept them waiting in lines for ages.

“How do you think Nick is sweetie?”

“I’m very glad that the two of you were so okay with it on such short notice, especially since the way that dad used to react to foxes; all Preds for that matter.”

“I think that you moving to the big city and having Nick as a friend has really brought us more into the times instead of being such a bunch of backwards backwater--” Two loud shots rang out in report as the two bunnies stood in their driveway.  Judy immediately drew her sidearm and took cover behind the truck, pulling her mother down with her.  Judy’s mind raced at a mile-a-minute as she thought through a thousand different situations.  Horrible ones, good ones, and ones she would rather not think of.

Judy peeked around the side of the van and saw two things, one much more concerning than the other.  Her father had come out of the garage, so it obviously wasn’t him; especially if she was judging by his facial expression.  The other was the russet streak plummeting from her bedroom window.  It was Nick, a streak of crimson flowing out of two large wounds in his chest as he fell from a great height.

Time seemed to slow as she watched his back make contact with one of the farm tools that was still attached to the front of the tractor.  The large metal spike drove right through him as if he were a fox kebab.  Blood flowed freely from his body and down the farm implement as well as from his muzzle and chest.  Judy ran to where he was before reaching for her phone, she began to dial Bogo’s office number as she reached out to his paw.  
“N-Nick, are you going to be okay?”

“J-j udy, I’ll be fine.  Just get back, grab your parents. Please, I don’t want them to see this, I-I” he was cut off as he began to viciously cough up blood.  The wounds in his chest not even yet beginning to heal themselves. “I don’t want them to see what a monster I can be… Those three might die” as he started coughing once more “I-t’s up to you” the final word carrying his last breath.  Judy began to cry as she saw the pain he was feeling, how the light again faded from those emerald eyes.  The pool of blood below her growing wider and wider the longer he hung there.

Judy honored his momentarily last words as she sprinted towards her father first, grabbing his almost comatose body and shoving him towards the truck where her mother was still hunkered down.  “Dad, I need you to get down behind this car.  Nick didn’t want you to watch, please” whether he understood what she said made no difference as he grabbed onto Bonnie and began to cry into her shoulder.

Judy couldn’t help herself as she positioned herself on the back of the car, watching his motionless form as he hung there unmoving.  And was shocked as she watched Jenna, her sister.  Dane and Dan her younger brothers as they strode out of the house.  She could barely make out what they were saying. “Pity he ain’t s-y -nythin-, -r be- for his life” said her sister as they strode out to his body, hanging there as if on a hook.  Dane pulled a knife out of his pocket as Dan took hold of the double barrel shotgun.

Judy gasped as she watched them poke him with the knife a couple times before they turned away from him and grabbed a phone to take a selfie with his now ‘deceased body’.

She watched in horror as an unfamiliar red light began to flood into his eyes.  The eerie glow giving her the chills as she watched a paw casually reach up to the spike in his chest.  She felt a pang of sympathetic pain as he began to bend the steel until he could slide off of it.  She heard a pair of gasps behind her and then a sullen thud as her father and mother watched the same thing and then had her father, Stu, pass out from shock.

Nick--

Drawing a shaky breath once more, light and senses flooded back to me.  I could see again, breathe, smell and taste once more.  A titanic pressure in my chest brought my attention to the steel spike currently impaling me, a minor blockage from my current goal. Words rattled around in my head, ones that I hadn't heard in a long time.  VENGEANCE, RETRIBUTION, PROTECT, ENEMY, DESTROY.

The spike bent easily in my strong paws, deforming at first but slowly bending until I could slide off of it.  It slipped out of my chest with an audible ‘shlurk’, it effectively drew the attention of the three bunnies currently fussing about how to take my pelt.  Slowly they turned to face me, eyes focusing on the muscles flexing across my body as the steel bent before resting on my face.  The glowing pools of crimson being less than inviting, the gnashing maw full of a primal snarl was much less so.

“So you little shits think that killing someone would be that easy?! Just shoot me and use that silly thing you call a knife to cut fur from flesh!”

Cries of “Holy Shit” and “Jesus Christ” were easy to hear from them.  So I turned the notches all the way up, feeling myself slowly give into that same state as that night in the basement.

“Why don’t I show you what real cutting tools are, what you couldn’t even imagine using” taking a quick breath and re-adjusting myself before unsheathing my steel claws “These are a real tool, flesh and bone like butter and silk” as I brought them together and scraped them apart leaving a shower of sparks.

Dan and Dane took a couple steps back and stilled their weapons, Jenna took off back into the house and closed the door behind her.  Even though the two now standing before me pointed deadly tools at me, hearing Judy’s sharp intake of breath was the final straw, in an instant I closed the distance between myself and the two close bunnies. Dan attempted to raise the shotgun, but was caught mid-movement by a swift swing of a claw that sent the firearm sailing through the air and away from the trio a head-butt followed suit, knocking his shocked form directly to the ground.  The moment he hit the floor, I could feel the telltale shock of pain from the knife as it was repeatedly forced through my pelt. 

I took a step forward, pressing my foot into Dan’s prone form to keep him down.  I swung forward with incredible speed and slammed my claws through the door around his neck immobilizing him as I raised my right paw, ready to open his throat, and again, in the same way my brother and I did in that basement years before, I froze stock still.  The Doctor’s final workings coming to light, turning my head to the car that Judy was hiding behind and waited for her to give the command.

“JUDY!!!!” yelled Dane as he scrambled at the door trying to keep air going to his lungs. “Judy   
get him off of us, please. We’ll do anything!” he cried, the only thing to be heard from Dan was a mumbled groan of pain as the pressure from my foot increased slightly.

Judy--  
 I heard the crunch from Nick’s paw meeting the door, I didn’t know what to expect.  I heard the gun get caught on something metallic and watched as it sailed over the car and into the bushes.  But when I peeked around the edge of the car, I was shocked to see that both of my brothers were still in one piece, and that Jenna was watching intently from the broken window in my room.

My gaze slowly drifted back over the scene before me and finally rested onto the face of my partner, his facial fur was matted in a few spots where blood had spilt on it.  His eyes were still that incredibly vibrant crimson, but there was something different about his paws; his claws were out and they appeared to be wholly metal- likely another gift from that blasted doctor.

But they rested the longest on those eyes, even though there was no pupil or obviousness to what he was looking towards, the blank look on his face made it only more difficult to discern.  But I could tell that he was waiting for something, something from me.

“Nick, what’s going on?”

“I wait”

“Waiting for what Nick, what are you waiting for?”

“Your decision”

Fear flicked through my body as I stared back at him “on what?”

His reply was completely mechanical, “I wait to hear your verdict, they are a threat to your well being and they must be dealt with”

“I-I’m not sure what you mean Nick, you’re scaring me!”

“I will wait”

“Wait… Nick, what do you mean waiting for me”

“I will wait” he repeated

I looked back to him, he was standing stock still aside from the movement of his gaze when I moved.  It was as if he was a robot, a living breathing robot, and I was to give him the command.  Knowing I had to act quickly, to save them and to fix this, I spoke quickly and carefully “Nick I want you to let Dane go”

His movements were just as sure as they were when they happened, his claw slid out of the wooden door and he placed the smaller figure on the ground next to himself.  Before looking back to Dan and then back to me.

“And this one?”

“Yes, him too, let him go”

Again, with the swift and sure movements he stepped off the rabbit and lifted him to his feet before sheathing his claws and stepping back.

“Do you require anything else?”

“Uhh, what?”

“Do you want anything?”

“No, I just want to understand what is happening to you”

“A portion of the late doctor’s work was to create a failsafe in case of his death.  All of us were to be bonded to another mammal, as per his demand it will always be prey.  Meaning that whenever we are pushed into this state we must require permission to act in defense of ourselves, but not for whomever we are bonded to.  This however, has been a special case, you are related and your input is absolute.”

“What about this though?” I asked, looking over the glowy eyes and the lack of expression “Why are you doing this for me?”

“As of four days ago, the bond became complete; I am now to protect you and help you whenever I can, if the need shall arise I am to give my life for your continued safety and wellbeing.  Fortunately, the doctor decided that because this could lead to the substantial loss of predator life, eventually ending in the complete loss of predator species, that we should be gifted with a state of “undeath” or purgatory if you will.  I myself, Nick Piberius Wilde have now been bonded to you Judith Laverne Hopps.

“Does this always happen?”

“As of right now, this can only activate at the behest of the bonded mammal.  In my case, the last time it was activated was by Emily the doctor's daughter.  Her last request was to burn down the lab with all of us inside of it.  And if need be, to bury her body by a certain river in the Rainforest District, I attempted to save her, but was unable to complete my task, it derailed this facet of the doctors’ work derailed ever since.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, will I get Nick back?”

“Yes, this state lasts for only an hour at the longest on its own without any outside requests or dangers.  And can be terminated at any time by the bonded mammal, it can also be forced to be ignored by the bonded mammal.  However, use of this option has been known to be dangerous in previous tests so use at your own discretion.”

‘Holy hell’ I thought to myself.  ‘Nick didn’t want to share this on the train because this was such a... a... Disgusting thing that the doctor did to them.  He took away their everything, and then took away the *them* aspect to replace it with some horrible machination.’ 

“Nick, I want to to snap out of this state, and then never. Ever. ever. Return to it.  Am I clear?”

“Yes”

3rd--

Slowly I watched as the red cleared from his eyes and his metallic claws receded back into his paws, his posture relaxed and he shuddered before falling to one knee. “Carrots-” he started. 

“NIICKKK”

“Wow, fluff, chill.  I told you on the train that this was sort of a sore subject for me.”

“Yeah, but I never knew that he had done that to you.  It was as if you were a machine, or under some kind of hypnosis.”

“Y’know I can still understand what you say when I’m like that.  And if I heard you correctly, I will never be forced to do anything like that again.” A mental frown crossed Nick’s mind, ‘It will happen again Judy… if you ever get hurt, I won’t be able to help it…’ the painful thought was quickly shoved down as he placed his mask back into place.

The two sank down into the grass as the sound of the ZPD’s chief and some backup began to arrive at the Hopps family farm.  Both Nick and Judy were going to have a long, long discussion with the chief about what just happened.  And Judy would find something for her brothers and sisters to do in jail for what they did.

The two sank down into the grass as the sound of the ZPD’s chief and some backup began to arrive at the Hopps family farm. Both Nick and Judy were going to have a long, long discussion with the chief about what just happened. And Judy would find something for her brothers and sisters to do in jail for what they did.


	3. The Real Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A note to anyone that reads these, if you are interested in writing a work of your own based on something you find here, please just leave a message asking first- and please do make sure that you link your own work so I can read your take on it too.
> 
> Nick goes savage! -obligatory "OH NO!" - 
> 
>    
> I'll be honest, this is an idea that continuously pops back up when I find myself with writers block. I've currently got three completely separate and fleshed out story arcs where Nick goes savage- each from a different reason, but all with a very similar outcome. I'll probably post two of them here in the one-offs section of my writing and then take the time to make the third into a real story after I get over Predman Hell.
> 
> Thanks for reading~
> 
> \-- Leroi

Savagery, The Real Deal

Nick knew that with Judy’s injured leg they wouldn't have been able to outrun anyone, including that insufferable ewe and her henchmen. But he also understood being left behind and alone in such situations, without a prior plan they would inevitably spell a hospital visit at best and a morgue at worst, and he in his heart believed that Judy would suffer the latter. 

So, he grabbed her by the shoulder and hefted her weight onto himself and made a break for it, ducking under a no entry sign and hopping over some clutter on the floor. He thought they had made it, he was out in the open and heading towards the main door, but out of the corner of his eye a flash of blue and white streaked across and slammed into his side. A yelp of pain streaked from his throat as he tumbled off the side of the ledge and into the below-ground exhibit. Without thinking, he grabbed hold of Judy and cushioned her fall; the faux grass and dirt bit into his back as he impacted the scenery below.

He laid on his back, completely unmoving as Judy rolled from his grasp. He was panting, trying to regain some of his composure that had fled quite rapidly upon impact. When his breath finally returned he was met face to face with the crooked smile of that dirty ewe holding that small air pistol towards the two of them. He looked around, searching for any signs of Judy, hoping that in some small consolation that she had fled the small pit through a vent of something, anything to get her away from Bellwether. Alas, it was not meant to be, she was standing on her better leg staring down the mayor and goading her on as if they were both children on a playground.

The final words of their conversation bled through his ringing ears, “What’re you going to do, shoot me?” Stated Judy, a triumphant and defiant look on her face.

“Oo-hohoho-ho, no, I won’t shoot you my dear. But it will be a shame when you’re gone…. He will!” a vile grin snaking through the ewe’s features as she turned the gun to Nick and fired off a single round.

Nick felt it impact somewhere on his body, it felt as if someone had hit him with a stone. A fire burning from the spot it hit and spreading through his body like wildfire. He groaned and whimpered as the burning sensation overtook him, but at the last moment, a pair of cool velvety paws wrapped around his muzzle and tore his gaze from the floor and into a pair of amethyst eyes. The burning sensation seemed to bleed away, replaced with a calm, he felt protected in her presence and wished nothing more than to protect the one that gave him that feeling.

Bellwether stood at the precipice of the pit, staring down as her creation took effect. The only problem was that; it was appearing to have no affect on the predator. So she meticulously grabbed another pellet, this time it was one that was meant for Lionheart, its much larger shape and payload making her extra cautious as she loaded the round. “Doug, after this, we are going to have a long talk about what it is that your ‘new’ version actually does. Because *pointing at Nick* it appears to not really be affecting much of anything at the moment.”

Doug said nothing, but continued to watch in stunned silence as the larger fox was shivering and having tremors from the serum’s effect but that silly rabbit was managing to keep him under wraps by speaking with him. It was all new to him, he had no idea how it would work, and was currently having second thoughts about this whole thing with his employer Bellwether. Slowly he took his phone from his hoof and dialed 911 before turning the call volume off and placing it back into his pocket. Hoping that the ZPD would arrive before this went too far and more innocents were hurt or worse by Bellwether’s harebrained schemes to remove the predators and subjugate them.

To his horror though, Dawn pointed the small gun at the fox once more and fired a second round off. It stuck the fox dead center in his collarbone, the force of the shot enough to knock him out of Judy’s grasp. Nick fell to the ground of the exhibit foaming from the mouth as he panted, the wildfire in his veins burning hotter and more painful than ever before. It was too much, he needed to get away from her, he knew that he had to. Nick rolled to face Judy and croaked out one last warning before he was swept away by the serum’s influence. 

Doug noticed something was off the moment the first round had failed to take affect, and now that Dawn had decided that a second, much larger dose was the right answer, he understood what was happening. The newer serum had a much different effect than it’s predecessor, the last one merely removed the civility and the mammal from the creature it was, rendering them a primal version of themselves. A tiger was a tiger, and a rabbit was still a rabbit at the end, but this new serum had a much more pronounced effect. It reacted in the body in an instant, causing all of the prior symptoms, but with a very special side effect. It caused mammals struck by it to become stronger, faster, and tougher; this was all more requests from Dawn to make a serum that would have the best effect to be shown on media to prove the ‘instability’ of predatory mammals. 

The first dose was sufficient enough to make physical changes, the second dose was much more than was even necessary. If this fox survived the potential overdose, he would most certainly have massive changes in his physical structure and his psyche. He watched as the fox writhed on the ground, clearly in massive pain from the serum, but still not falling into the Night Howler’s trance.

Nick’s body was aflame; he could feel every single heartbeat push blood around his body. Everything hurt, headaches, muscle aches, joint pain. He felt the whole lot of it, whatever it was doing to him was more than just a ‘mood swing’ as Judy had explained in the truck drive here. Slowly though, as the pain began to mount and then subside, he found himself growling and yipping as it spiked and receded within him. And then in a flash, it was gone, replaced by a cool serenity. The pain was gone, and so was that awful feeling that crisscrossed his body after the serum had hit him. Nick blinked a few times to clear the tears from his eyes, they dripped down his muzzle as he attempted to make clear his and Judy’s current situation.

To his surprise, Judy hadn’t moved from her spot just in front of him, she had stayed with him through all of it even though they had both watched Manchas go savage from the same drug. She trusted him enough to stay even if it could have meant her own death. A low warbling purr emitted from his core as that single idea sank in, she trusted him, and he wouldn’t let it go unnoticed. 

Judy palmed her pen as Bellwethers shocked face was revealed in a flurry of screams and curses, she obviously didn’t like losing. 

“You’ve lost Dawn, the jig’s up. You’ve failed, and this over.” Judy yelled from the base of the pit, Nick still on the ground beside her

“Hey, Bellwether, you hear me, YOUR STUPID SERUM DIDN’T WORK!!” she yelled louder, hoping that for once the mayor would slip up again.

As Dawn looked upon the scene unfolding in the pit, she began to smile, the fox was starting to rise to all fours and was staring at the small injured bunny right in front of him. “Miss Hopps, It’s awfully tragic, you’re going to die at the paws of a fox. And I’ll continue to rule this city like I was born to it, and don’t worry, if that last heavy dose of Night Howlers didn’t work I bet I could put another couple doses into your friend over there.” she stated matter of factly, hiding the gun behind her and putting on a very convincing facade, all before it melted back into a snarling version of a ‘resting bitch face’™.

Judy could feel the rush of heat from her partner’s breath as he rose up behind her, she turned to see him and to give congratulations on their success, but was met with a glowing pair of ruby red eyes where there was once verdant green. His mouth opened again, revealing the mighty upper and lower jaws of a predator each row filled with long sharp teeth. Expecting the impending need to move, she began to lean backwards. But the only sound that escaped Nick was a panicked whine as he attempted to do something, to say something that would convince her of his continued sanity.

As this realization came over her she leaned back into Nick and hugged his front, finding that he seemed much taller now than before. She had only moments to inspect the apparent changes as the broad double doors at the front of the Museum swung open and what appeared to be the entirety of the ZPD precinct one arrived. They rushed the room and encircled the four rams and one ewe. “Give it up Bellwether, we heard it all. You have the right to remain-” started Fangmyer who instead was decked by the closest ram. Ten more rams dressed in faux police outfits ran in from the subway entrance, standing on the opposite side of the pit from the ZPD.

The moment the ram slammed into Fangmyer, the entire room broke into chaos, mammals flying everywhere, an odd Taser line or tranq dart here and what appeared to be nightsticks and unconscious somebody's there. When it started to become apparent that the ZPD was getting the situation under control Dawn began to flee towards the back of the room in hopes of escaping capture. It was her unlucky day as she was struck in the back by a misplaced Taser shot and collapsed to the ground.

Nick made the executive decision for both Judy and himself that they had been in the pit far too long. He grabbed Judy by the scruff of her neck and the collar of her button down shirt and crouched low. He could feel her tense up right before he sprung towards the edge of the pit, she cleared the edge and so did his upper half, one of his hind legs catching the lip causing his grip to loosen as she skidded away from him and he face planted into the tile floor.

It felt as though all eyes were on them as they miraculously appeared from within the pit, not to mention that the fox was covered in a strange blue liquid, his shirt had gotten caught on one of the limbs of the fake tree and had been torn from him as he cleared the edge. The blue streaks appeared to be in impact patterns similar to those that the other savage mammals had been identified with. The remaining ZPD officers that weren’t already occupied began to advance on the fox with their weapons drawn, obviously expecting some fantastic fight to happen. 

Nick was entirely too caught up in the action to have noticed how close he was to either the tree, or for that matter, how deep the pit really was. His shirt had gotten caught on something just after he leapt and was no longer covering him, and his hind leg had gotten a full helping of wall when he tried to get over the edge with Judy. He was also far too occupied with trying to find her among the throng of mammals strewn across the room in the wake of Bellwether attempted police shenanigan. He was so busy looking for her that he failed to notice the four officers that were approaching him with drawn weapons, two tasers and two tranq guns between them. When he spotted her by the edge of another nearby exhibit, he began to hastily make way for her. He could hear the gasps and the scratches from someone behind him as he advanced on the diminutive officer, slowing down to a stop when he was within pouncing distance he lowered his ears and his head as well as tucked his tail down before waiting for her to grant him entry into her personal space.

Judy watched with bated breath as her companion composed himself from his tumble and faceplant, watching the other officers close in on him as he stood himself back up. And gave them a questioning glare when they drew their weapons, she began to yell towards them to stop, that he wasn’t a danger. They must have heard some part of it because they no longer advanced on him, although the continued to keep aim and watch closely for any foul play. Judy looked forward once more only to find that he had stopped almost six or seven paces away and was attempting to appear much smaller than he really was, whimpered silently as if desiring the right of passage. As if understanding her current predicament for the first time, she took a calming breath before opening her arms and waving him in. His ecstatic movements and tail waving behind him like an expensive duster only outmatched by the bright blur of orange as he closed the distance in half the recommended strides. She heard a ‘thwump’ as he flopped to the ground, sliding over to her before he curled up around her. His usually larger stature would have allowed him to curl around her quite comfortably before, but now post serum, he was able to wrap fully around her and then some. His head rested in her lap, met fully across with his tail that followed suit from the other side. She sat there silent for a moment before beginning to scratch between the ears, earning that same muffled, purring noise that she had heard before when they were still in the pit.

Nick closed his eyes as a feeling of serenity and safety completely overwhelmed him, the tenseness and worry fading from his muscles as his body relaxed from the extreme stress from before. He was calm in her presence knowing that she wouldn’t let any harm befall him, and in turn would he let any harm befall her.

Judy began to come to her senses as she felt the fox wrapped tightly around her begin to tense back up. A low growl was emitted from him as Chief Bogo lumbered forward, his wide eyes were fixated on the fox. “Judy, I need you to step away from that fox, he’s savage” Bogo warned, drawing his tranq pistol.

Fearing for both her safety, and the safety of her best friend, Judy pressed herself closer to the fox before speaking. “Chief, this isn’t fox, his name is Nick. He will not hurt any of us, I promise. I need you to put the gun away, you’re making him uneasy. He was drugged by that witch multiple times before shielding me from both himself and those god awful sheep. Please just leave him be, I’m sure he’ll cooperate with us as is, no need for this.”

Bogo looked at the scene carefully, instinctive fear and the experience of many years as Chief Of Police in precinct one told him to ignore Hopps and to remove the fox. He had seen too much come from this drug not to do anything and the internal war lasted mere moments as he began to advance once more. Completely unbeknownst to him one of Bellwether faux cops had snuck into the line of officers and was coming up behind Bogo. Both Nick and Judy saw the mammal coming up behind him, Judy began to yell at Bogo hoping that he would understand and react in time. Judy slipped to the ground as a russet figure flashed by, Bogo saw a cloud of red fly completely overhead and land directly on top of a ram holding another one of those air pistols that Bellwether was armed with. Even seeing the clear evidence in front of him, Bogo raised his tranq gun towards the fox who was now holding the ram by his neck. The fox had positioned himself on the back of the prone sheep, holding the mammal in place as Bogo approached. As Bogo came close enough Nick released his grip on the sheep and darted through Bogo’s legs to get back to Judy.

As Wolford and Delgato hesitantly cuffed the now catatonic sheep and began to drag him towards one of the squad cars. Bogo began again to approach both the fox and his star officer. “Judy, we need to bring him to a hospital, he needs medical attention.” before motioning towards her injured leg “so do you.”

She reluctantly sighed and expressed her understanding of the chief’s demand. Bogo stepped forward and made to remove Judy from his presence but the moment his hands touched her he began to growl once more, baring teeth and raised hackles. Bogo immediately stepped back. Nick moved into the space he left and put his head through under her left arm to support her weight. He began to help her walk towards the front doors, Bogo paled when he saw it, if anything else was an indication that even though he wasn’t savage, he was not fully safe to be around; this was. In that moment, recognizing the sound of officers attempting to block media coverage of the incident, he couldn’t allow either Wilde or Hopps to leave the building. He definitely couldn’t afford to have Wilde leave the building appearing to be ‘savage’. Bogo just hoped that he would be more understanding than he was moments ago.

Nick was almost carrying all of Judy’s weight when he decided it would be easier and less painful for her if he simply hefted her completely onto his back. While before he never would have thought of it as something that was possible, it seemed more than easy as he shifted her weight further onto his back. She let out a small yelp as she flipped over, the whole world spinning before she came to rest in the soft fur of his back. Nick lightly purred in amusement as Judy huffed her dissent to his reaction. After Nick was satisfied that Judy was completely secure he began to pad forward once more drawing the eyes of all whom he passed. Nick was focused onto the bright flashing lights and sounds of one of the ambulances that were parked out front. 

As the afternoon sunlight began to shroud the duo, the sound of Bogo’s thundering steps brought Nick’s attention to within the museum once more, the chief had something important to say, and Nick decided that it would be at least polite to hear him out. 

Nick’s ears perked and he turned his muzzle to face the oncoming buffalo. “Nick, Judy, I have some pressing matters that as of this moment involve the two of you. I also cannot allow Mr. Wilde to exit the premises in his current state” upon hearing the growl coming from the savage predator in close proximity “However, I can get the two of you space in the Zootopia Central Hospital, they will treat both of you as well as allowing the two of you to stay together. And Wilde, they will most likely work closely with you to create a cure for this mess.” Calmly stated Bogo as he averted his eyes from Nick’s, trying to make sure that at all costs the fox stayed as calm as possible.

While Nick understood the importance of such an idea, it didn’t mean that he had to like it. Nick had never had a good time at any hospital, for any reason, he just hoped that the ZPD would make an announcement concerning the apparent ‘savagery’ before he was checked in. chains and muzzles were definitely not his thing, while he could deal with one, the other was a whole ‘nother story.

Judy was lifted off Nick’s back to his behest and laid down on a stretcher. Bogo attempted to do the same with Nick, but was met with some trouble when the fox began to yelp as he was forcefully lifted off the ground. Bogo finally got Nick onto the stretcher and was forced to use the injury straps to keep him to the bed and to hide his current condition. Nick on the other hand was very unamused by this, adopting a sideways frown and huffing quietly to himself. 

They were both wheeled into the same ambulance and promptly filled with medical personnel as well as the chief himself, but before either could make notion of their interest, they were sedated. Nick blinked to himself and repeatedly scrunched his muzzle and nose as if trying to get a moth away from it. Judy however, relaxed and simply slipped into a deep restful sleep. 

As Bogo watched over the two, he couldn’t help but wonder why she had trusted this fox so thoroughly, or for that matter, why this fox had fulfilled his promises and had helped her beyond the best of his own abilities. Judy was laid down on a bed to one side of the room, and the fox was placed behind a Plexiglas screen on the other side in a matching bed. Bogo noticed that for all the sedatives they had given the two, the fox was still semi-conscious, pawing at the orderlies as they moved him about idly.

What You Don’t Know

 

Judy woke with a start, her mind was very fuzzy and everything was a blur. She was with Nick, they crashed a train? And, and the nighthowlers, and Bellwether…. Nick was drugged!

She quickly jolted upright to the behest of her injured leg, it had been stitched up and bandaged in her sleep, but that did nothing for the throb that passed along it’s length with every heartbeat. She scanned the room after her eyes opened back up, and saw the fox she was looking for, he was on the wrong side of a plexi-glass wall that had been hastily constructed within their room. It had holes along the bottom and the top with a single door placed in the center. The fox in question was pawing at the glass longingly, splayed out against the glass with his snout pressed firmly to one of the openings.

With a start she surged into motion, desiring to be closer to her friend in his time of need. Something was wrong though, she had idly thought about it when they were in the museum, but now it was clearly placed before her. Something was wrong with Nick, something much more important than a hopefully reversible drug incident. She had taken his physical information from the ZPD database when she had gotten his academy form together, and he clearly no longer matched the majority of it. His body was much larger than it had been even before they fell into the pit, and he also appeared to be more predatory, his teeth were larger and so were his claws. It was a foreign thing to wonder, but she guessed that a similar thing would have happened to her if she had been the one to take the hit instead of Nick.

The moment she reached the barrier he moved, Nick had been watching her quiet approach towards the large cage, she had thought he didn’t notice. When Judy slumped against the other side of the glass wall, she was so close to the opening that she could feel his breath coming in huffs through the small, he was trying to get his muzzle through to her but was ultimately unable to bridge the distance. Ultimately he ended up turning over so that his back was flush with the wall and was close to Judy, and in return Judy had stuck her hand back through one of the small holes and was scratching his side contentedly. She was so caught up that she even failed to notice that one of the orderlies had walked into the room, Judy did however notice the sound of the door closing.

Almost five minutes later two doctors and Chief Bogo reentered the room. Both doctors were clutching clipboards and pens, Bogo was standing behind them watching over the pairs of shoulders to see what was being written on their clipboards.

“Miss Hopps?” stated the leftmost Doctor, his nametag read Dr. Jones Jr

“Yes?” She replied, still entranced by the softness of Nick’s fur

“I am Doctor Hareison and this is my partner Dr. Jones, we need to ask the two of you some questions about what happened earlier.” The second Doctor appearing much more clinical than the first who had apparently opted to wear khakis and a brown button down shirt.

“We need to know exactly what transpired during your time in the pit at the museum, from beginning to end.”

And so went literally the rest of the day, both doctors were speaking with only Hopps. But with yes and no questions, they were still able to communicate with Wilde himself. It was very clear that something had occurred beyond what little they had heard from the ZPD debrief. The battery of blood tests that they had done for both of them had come back negative for almost everything imaginable except for a ridiculous amount of some kind of mindnicampum holicithias derivative. They had already figured out that someone was using the plant’s toxic effects to bring the predators into these ‘savage’ states but this was the lynch-pin. Although Nicholas Wilde’s blood tests also came back positive for a slew of other chemicals that were all in the same proportion to the ‘nighthowler’s’. It had done something to the fox in a physical sense, he no longer matched his medical profile in the ZMD (Zootopia medical database) his height, weight, and overall description were all off. Something had happened during the incident that had caused this unprecedented physical change in the fox; and they were determined to find out.

Nick was no scientist, nor a doctor, but even he had to admit that he understood that something was clearly wrong with his body. He was very used to being four feet tall, for a majority of his life he had been, but now even on all fours he was closer to three feet; something that he didn’t understand. It was just like when he was a kit and still growing, he had gotten larger overall and to him it appeared as though the world itself had become smaller.

Nick harrumphed and leaned more into Judy’s calming caresses, it was enough for him to worry about at the moment and Judy was here to support him when he needed it. As the two doctors stepped back from the glass wall Bogo stepped closer. “I’m sure the two of you understand the gravity of the situation, we don’t fully understand what happened to you Wilde, but they’re working on a cure. As it stands you will not be the first to get the cure as you still have your civility, meaning if the doctors have any questions or requests they will most likely look to you for answers.” Before turning his attention back to Judy as well “I hope that you understand the importance of the ZPD badge.” Bogo curtly cut off any reply that Judy would have as he continued, earning a low growl from Nick “Because you of all officers should know better than to allow your Badge to fall from your uniform, I found this on the floor in my office just this morning while making coffee. Remember to cherish it as you cherish family, never forget your family Hopps.” As he handed the badge back to it’s rightful owner, Bogo then gave a surprising smile as he stepped back out of the room. 

Judy wasn’t one to complain, but this was one unexpected gift horse and it was one that she wouldn’t just look in the mouth. She had accepted her badge once more in hopes that she could again talk Nick into going to the police academy after this all cleared up, and hoped that deep in her heart that after he regained his currently lost faculties that he wouldn’t hold any part of this against her.

A few nights passed with little headway for a cure, the doctors had tried most of the home remedies that many of the other hospitals had in the past for accidental ingestion of the plant, but none worked. They had since figured out that it was a derivative of the plant and was of a much higher concentration, this was wholly a non issue for all of those whom were drugged prior to Nicholas Wilde. They were drugged with a very straightforward version of the plant’s extract, Wilde was not, there was much more to what he had come into contact with. When the hospital contacted the ZPD to ask if they had detained anyone that could have knowledge about the drug that Nick had come into contact with, they were surprised when Doug; a middle aged ram, instantly agreed to come and help. He had explained that he was the one who alerted the ZPD to Bellwether’s position and to her vile plan. He was also the one that had been creating the toxin. None of this helped when he saw the victim that they had trouble with, he understood what they wanted to know, and he was broken trying to explain it.

“I told you, a lion’s dose and a fox dose will remediate his symptoms. But they will not stop his ‘primal’ additions.” Stated the Doug, his voice rising in anger at the assembled Doctors.

“What do you mean by ‘primal additions’?” Asked Doctor Jones

“His overall size increases, the teeth, claws etcetera. Although I am unsure if any form of behavioral changes will have happened. The dosages were made for each species, that idiot, Bellwether decided that instead of waiting to see if he would have gone savage from the first hit him with the one she had me make for Lionheart. Meaning that Nick was subjected to a fox dose and then subsequently twenty more from the high concentration dose meant for a lion.” Stated Doug as he pushed his glasses up further

“Are you saying there is no cure for him?” came a quiet reply

“No, he will be cured, but it will most definitely leave some after effects. If what I saw and what you’ve noted in both of their behaviors, I would say keeping them close together would be in everyone’s best interests.”

“Like a trigger, or a calming factor. You think that she has that kind of influence on him because of this?” came another question

“Yes, I really do, it’s not that hard to believe. They both went through this experience together, and I’ll be honest with you, I truly believe that he cared for her well before he was hit with the serum.” Doug sighed, he understood the gravity of the situation but obviously the doctors had seen the other more clinical and untested drugs that were present in that fox’s system, and it was more apparent that they simply didn’t understand that the victim was meant to become more deadly, aggressive, protective, not just savage. In essence it makes them more feral rather than the savagery that the prior serum was meant for”

“You mean it just makes their instincts stronger?”

“Well, yes. That was the desired effect.”

 

Days later the second version of the antidote was swiftly manufactured for Nick; it was administered by none other than Judy herself. She was the only one both comfortable enough entering the glass box and the only one that would without a doubt be safe entering the room. She was given two different methods for administering the new cure, the first was a small syringe containing a clear liquid, while the other was a small set of blue pills. It was up for Nick to decide for himself which he was most comfortable with, although Doug manufactured both of the serums even he had no idea what would happen once Nick came into contact with the cure.

Nick had decided to take the injection, it would be over quicker and would hopefully be mostly figured out for him, he wanted nothing to do with those silly doctors or their probing tests or questions anymore. It was over quickly, she strode over to him and with a caring glance and a slight pinch it was done. She took a hesitant step back from him to watch intently as the new cure took effect, she watched and waited, and waited some more. But nothing happened, nothing! Judy looked towards the plated wall shooting everyone on the other side with heavily accusatory glances. A strange sound came from her partner as the cure took its strange effect, he began to shudder violently as well as a blue foam that began to drip from his muzzle. He fell from his current position on his haunches straight to the floor, Judy exclaimed in panic as she watched her dearest friend convulse on the floor; she had no idea what would happen because of this, and had no idea if the cure those wackos had really worked… or if it was just killing Nick.

She grabbed his head in her paws and held him close as the tremors shook through his body, they came suddenly and passed in the same manner. Slowly Nick reopened his eyes, gazing out at Judy’s tear streaked face.

“W-why the long face carrots?” he shakily coughed out, his voice hoarse from disuse.

“You scared the daylights out of me Nick, never do that again!” she replied, before pulling him closer to herself.

She continued to wonder what would come of her new partner because of the changes caused by that dreadful serum. She and Nick were both released from the hospital at the end of the day, Nick was to remain under observation by someone; and Bogo had decided it best to be Judy. While Nick was to remain under observation to understand anything further about what had happened, she was forced to use crutches for three more weeks. Idly wondering what she and Nick would do with that time kept her busy as they both drove towards his apartment; Judy had never been there before and had no idea what to expect. But she did know that this would be the start of a long friendship, and maybe more…


	4. Learning to be Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just like the last one, if you find inspiration from any of the works posted here, just ask- I'll most nearly say yes, just please make sure that you link your work so I can read it too!
> 
> This was the second idea I had basically puked onto paper one afternoon. It's got merit, I do like where I've started to go with it, but Im don't feel like it's got enough conflict to get a story going. It would have likely ended within two or three chapters and been less than ten thousand words- I'd even take a bet that it would have ended with a -- "And they lived happily ever after".
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed.
> 
> \-- Leroi

It had been one full year since Dawn had tried to turn the population against the predators, the anniversary if you will. Judy couldn't get the feeling of looming dread out from her head, it wasn’t something that she took lightly and it was readily apparent that the others at precinct one thought the same.

Nick had stayed back at the apartment, he had come down with a cold and had been having a bad few days. He decided that he would take a day or two off to beat the illness and be back to help Judy to fight crime. But little did he know that some of Bellwether associates had some plans of their own, and they included him.

Judy was getting ready to leave the precinct, it was getting late and the shifts were changing. ‘Hopefully Nick is feeling better’ she thought to herself. Judy had been very preoccupied with her thoughts about her partner that she walked directly into the Chief’s leg.

“Hopps”

“Oh, I’m so sorry chief, I should have been watching where I was-”

“No, it’s fine Hopps. I’m more worried about you and Nick, if anything is going to happen. It would be likely that you two would be high on the list of priorities. Watch out, if you need anything… don’t hesitate to call.”

“Oh, well… um.. Thanks Chief” her fluster obvious, not knowing how to react to the Chief when he was more kind, rather than his usually stone cold facade. 

With that, she took her leave, heading back towards the apartment complex where she and Nick shared a large flat. It had a small kitchen, a small living room, two bedrooms and one bathroom. Her own bedroom alone was already larger than the apartment that she had when she first arrived in the big city, and it was cozy to have another mammal to take up some of the large space within the building.

Walking up the stairs, she reminisced on their time together on the force and how far they had both come in regards to their species stereotype. Nick, the untrustworthy and sly fox, was one of the most caring and trustworthy mammals she had ever met; he was however, sly, but not in a bad way. It was more of a smoothness that he was capable of, it was a miracle really, he had managed to talk his way out of every single issue he had, and sometimes get the other party to apologize- it was truly an art he had mastered. Herself on the other paw, had a rather protected and cloistered upbringing, away from most predators as well as anything that could be construed as different from her frame of life. Most families in the burrows were alike- couple hundred kits, mother and father, close parental figures at times. But had instead decided to break the mold, going through the ZPA- top of her class, and becoming a cop in the big city. She had, like Nick, broken the mold- they were different, and they were strong because of it.

As her train of thought came to a calm stop, she found herself in front of her front door. Searching around her pockets for her small keychain, she found the key that she desired and hastily opened the door, hoping to find her partner in a better state than she had left him. What she saw both gave her hope and reason to question, Nick was sprawled out on the couch with no tissues or trash bin in sight. That was a plus because it meant he hadn’t been puking up his lungs, and it meant that he had found enough strength to get out of bed- which most likely meant that he had gotten hungry, another good sign. But what made her take another long look was his positioning on the couch, it was obvious that he was asleep, but he was splayed out on his side, a position she usually found he didn’t like to lay in unless they were cuddling while watching a movie. Nick’s legs and arms were both splayed out in a similar manner to the way he laid out in the museum back when they tricked Bellwether, each of his black claws were extended and his chest rose and fell within a steady rhythm.

Something was off, she could sense it in the air. So instead of immediately waking up her partner, she chose to pad off into the kitchen to see what he had eaten earlier. Looking around, she found the leftovers that he had eaten, the dirty dishes still sitting in the sink. “Gah, what’ll it take you to learn to wash your dishes Nick?” she said to herself quietly. When she turned to the small table that stood in the corner, her blood ran cold. A small bouquet of flowers sat on the table, that familiar smell, that violet hue, it could only be one thing. Nighthowlers!

She almost skidded into the table when her eyes came to rest on them, she quickly dumped the water down the sink and threw the flowers into the garbage can. Underneath the vase that contained them was a small written note.

 

Dearest Judy;

If you are wondering, no, I am not Dawn Bellwether. That would be ridiculous, she’s in prison remember? But what I am, other than none of your concern, is a supporter of what she believed in. Your partner Nick has been drugged with my own formula of the drug she created multiple times in the past week. Symptoms have usually included fever, headache, vomiting and the like. But I’ve never tried it on a fox yet, so I wonder what will happen.

This is indeed the first and the last time you will ever hear from me, I no longer reside in Zootopia, nor do I ever plan to return. But this also gave me one last chance to drug your friend again; he seemed so worried about hurting you, it was so cute! Best wishes.

Signed Anon;

Judy was appalled at what she just read, though she couldn't help herself but read the small P.S at the bottom

\-- If you think it’s too hard for you to kill the ‘savage beast’, just think of him as a sick animal that just needs to be put down. It makes it much easier, I promise.

 

Yet again aghast, she crumpled the note up and threw it across the room. Her mind was flying at a mile a minute, what did this mammal do to Nick? Would the cure work? What did they change in the serum, what does it do. These questions rattled around in her mind as she jumped from conclusion to conclusion, most ending in some form of bloody confrontation as she attempted to make her escape from the apartment.

Her train of thought was completely derailed as she felt the hot, moist breath of another mammal run down her neck. She shivered a bit as she heard Nick’s claws go *tip* *tap* on the floor; she turned to face him, to see what he had become. But was met with a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. Her instincts told her to flee, to run, but Nick’s words flicked through her mind once more. 

“Whenever you find yourself at odds with a predator, always stand your ground as best you can. If you were there first, or if they took the first swing, always stand your ground. You’ve taken down rhinos and a corrupt mayor, you have nothing to fear. Remember, we can smell it.”

So she stood her ground, knowing that if need be, she could use her terrain to make space between the two of them. She prepared to grapple with him, and to have a fight.

“Nick, I don’t know if this will work… but can you hear me? Or understand me? A-are you o-”

She was about to ask if he was alright, if he was hurt, or at least still feeling sick. But was swiftly silenced as his head tilted to the side, something that Judy recognised from her other canid counterparts; a sign of confusion, or thought. She was about to speak again, but was silenced as his mouth opened once more, but instead of seeing his teeth. She felt, rather than saw, his tongue make a couple large swipes across her face. Before he took a hesitant step back from her and began to make quite whining noises.

“Wha? Oh Nick, I’m so sorry. I should have stayed with you, it's all my fault” she thought aloud.

Nick took another pensive step forward after hearing her words, yet again coming close. Still Judy felt no fear of her partner, rather a distinct fear for him. What if she wasn’t able to get this fixed? What would the others do? Would they understand? Would Nick be hostile to them?

Before she could question him, or check him for injuries, he began to nuzzle against her; gently, but with insistence. As she was calmed down by Nick’s gentle touch, she began to notice his scent more and more, it was getting so strong that it was almost pervasive. It clung to her like a blanket, filling her with the warm fuzzies. Slowly she sank to the floor, the emotions she was embattled with becoming too much.

Nick--

After having been drugged, finding out that he was going to go savage, and then hearing that the creator of the drug wasn’t even sure of what would happen was all far too unsettling. Nick had simply had the longest day of his life, however, his gleaming light in the darkness was that Judy had come home and hadn’t flipped her carrots. She even seemed to be rather calm for the situation at hand.

But it seemed, as it would with anyone put into this situation, that Judy was beginning to have a breakdown. Tears were streaking down her face and she not only looked sad, but she smelled of sadness as well. It was heartbreaking, part of his pack was sad and distressed and he felt almost powerless to do anything about it. The part of him that had been awakened by that maniac drove him to make her feel better, to fix what was wrong.

So, driven by instinct, he shifted until he was behind her and closed his jaws on the small tuft of extra fur on the back of her neck. She completely stopped moving once he lifted her off the ground, though when she touched down on the couch it was a wholly different story. She started to lightly shiver with tremors, the aftershocks of such a traumatic incident and an emotionally charged subject brought her to her limit.

Thinking quick on his feet, Nick dashed into his room, his lithe form and low posture allowing him to reach a great speed without making even a hint of a sound as he flew through the apartment searching for the most comfortable pillows and covers he could find. He made a huge pile of them as he made his short dashes back and forth, but on his last trip, he carried a pillow that was slightly too large for him to carry while so low to the ground. Judy had looked up just in time to see it too. As it got caught just under one of his front paws, he face planted into the pillow and skidded across the room on it until coming to a stop on the pile of comfortable items.

Judy had started to giggle, it was music to his ears, even though it took a miscalculation on his part- including some self injury of pride. It was worth it, and it drove him to work harder. 

Judy--

In an instant, she found herself Buried under a mountain of covers and pillows. But slowly it began to take shape. Nick had turned the couch, and the table next to it, into a den. Both were covered by large blankets that created a connected and dim place to hide themselves, Nick had also covered on the floor allowing them both to lay out and be comfortable. 

The next thing she knew, she could feel Nick burrowing his way back underneath the lavish pillow fort, even though she couldn’t see a thing in the darkness, she knew he was looking right at her.   
“Nick, we need to get help” Judy blurted “the chief said that if we have issues, to call for help… I hope he can get the cure here quick.”

On his part, Nick found himself bobbing his head to the suggestions that Judy was making; get the chief…. Get the cure….. Make this right. These were all things that he wanted too, while this drug had put him into quite the state before, it was now providing him with a flood of senses that were usually suppressed, and it was decadent to feel them- as if he was an electric guitar plugged into a high quality amp. 

This proved to be quite the detractor when Judy reached for her phone, the screen had enough time to swirl to contacts and then to Chief Bogo before Nick’s new savage esque traits forced him to take interest in it. At first she was able to simply ignore his feral actions, but slowly they became slightly more ‘playful’. When the ringer started, he was nibbling on the phone’s corner, as if trying to open a box to find out what was inside. At this, Judy was forced to make a quick exit from the den he created. 

She covered the light with her body and dove under one of the walls and pulled herself out, hoping that Nick’s night vision wouldn’t return for just long enough to make the call and then wait for help. She was right, it was just long enough for the phone to pick up before she could hear him yelp from within the little den.

“Hopps! Is everything OK?”

“Somewhat….” she started

“What do you mean!”

“Nick’s been drugged with some kind of Nighthowlers, but he isn’t savage… he built me a small den and was licking me”

“Hopps, you better not be pulling my leg, this is a serious-” he started, but was swiftly cut off by Nick escaping from his pillow den.

He was sniffing around, and generally acting in the way you’d expect from a savage mammal. Judy had an idea, it would surely prove it to the chief.

“Hey, Nicky… Nicky… come here Nicky, I have a treat for you!”  
“Hopps, what is going on! Damnit!” Bogo thundered through the phone. Judy had turned the camera on so that it would show Nick in his current state, what the chief saw rendered him speechless.

Nick was low to the ground, prowling forward towards the phone, before he sprung at it and it flopped over. While Bogo was watching, he accidentally hit the camera button as well, revealing his end of the video call to the ‘savage’ fox. 

Nick---

Nick knew what the small illuminated box was, but by god was it so interesting to look at. He just wanted to poke it, and see! See if it moves. When he did, a picture of his boss showed on the small box. ‘Wow’ he thought to himself as he watched the picture move, seeing the face of the mammal on the other end, he began to come closer; looking directly into the camera, he began to sniff, paw, and lick at the screen hoping to get the figure out of the glow-box.

Just when he thought he could get it open though, he heard a voice as smooth as butter blanket him. He turned to look at Judy who was holding a small wooden dowel. 

“Who’s a good boy!” she asked him very jubilantly

“Growl?” he responded

“Yes, you!. Do you wanna play fetch?” stated Judy as she began to wave the stick around.

She had quite literally encapsulated his entire being in that moment, he desired nothing more than for her to toss that stick. He just had to have it, why couldn’t she throw it already! 

When she did, he bolted after it and slid all over the place trying to get it. Unfortunately for him, and fortunately for the length of Judy and Bogo’s conversation, it had slid underneath Judy’s bed and was *just* out of reach for the fox.

 

Judy--

“Chief” she began “We really need you to get an antidote here, I’m not sure exactly what is going on, and I’m not sure I want to…” trailing off as her sentence came to a close

“No issue Hopps, I’ll get the antidote over… I have to bring others with me though,” he cut her off before she could even voice her opposition “I’ll let you do whatever administering necessary, and if it all goes well… we won’t even have to go into your apartment.

 

Now all she had to do, was keep Nick occupied and distracted until Bogo arrived with the cure. I sure hope it works, she thought to herself as she padded towards her bedroom in search of her fox.

Entering into her room she found Nick easily, he was prone and attempting to nose his way underneath the bed. With a cursory glance around the room Judy found a distinct lack of the wooden peg she had thrown for him to fetch; and all the pieces came together.

‘He must be trying to get it’ she thought

Nick didn’t immediately notice her entry into the room, so Judy took the opportunity to video how adorable he was. Little whines and the sound of him pawing at the floor and the edge of the bed. Judy let out a light giggle as she continued to watch him, but that was clearly enough, Nick had noticed her now. And he was pawing at her leg and urging her towards the bed.

“Having some trouble there, foxy?”

The only thing that came from him was a growling whine. Judy huffed as she pushed past him and reached underneath the edge of the bed and grasped for the wooden dowel.

The moment the stick came out from under the bed frame Nick’s jaws clamped over the end that Judy wasn’t holding. He proceeded to playfully growl and try and wrangle the stick away from her grasp.

“GRRRR, NIck gimme the stick!” she yelled, not having the wherewithal to listen for the sound of heavily approaching footsteps in the hallway.

 

\-- Bogo and other officers -- 

As they came to Judy’s front door, Bogo and two other officers were listening in to her apartment.

“GRRR, Nick gimme the stick!” they heard, albeit muffled, but they heard it all the same

“Hey, you think he’s gonna give it to her?” chuckled Fangmyer

“I said drop it! Dammit Nick. Stop pulling on it so much!”

“HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!” came delgato as he fell to the ground laughing

It was then that Bogo decided that enough was enough. “Y’know what, fuckit… I’m going in” as he shimmed the unlocked door and swung it wide. The first thing he saw when he entered into the room was the den that had been built out of covers and pillows that covered a vast portion of the living room. The next thing he saw was a pair of dancing shadows in a room down a hallway on the left side of the apartment. “Judy? Nick? Are you alright? Are you decent?” he hazarded.  
Bogo held the cure tightly in one paw and his tranq gun firmly in the other. When he came to the bedroom door, he paused. “I am coming in!” and then swung the second door wide. Nick had his jaws wrapped around one end of a dowel and Judy held the other. Bogo could see that Nick was winning this little tug of war match, his entry to the room merely exacerbated the issue. The stick flew out of Judy’s paw as she fell backwards, Nick himself flopped down and began to gnaw on the stick itself; clearly satisfied that it was now his.

Bogo knew that Judy had seen him, he shook the cure towards her to get her attention before lightly tossing the syringe to her. Nick hadn’t noticed him enter the room yet and Bogo intended to capitalize on that fact. He started to back out the door, then down the hall, and then back out the door before closing it and slumping down in the hallway.

“Don’t even think about it!” he threatened to the other officers.

Judy --

Bogo had given her the cure, now was the time to see if it worked. Inching forward, she reached out with the cure in-paw, and stuck it directly into his side and depressed the plunger. Nick growled in pain and skittered away from her before slumping over and falling unconscious, by this time it was already late at night and Judy decided to simply leave him in her room and check in on him in the morning.

Judy walked out her front door and had a light chat with the two officers and the chief. Afterwards she reentered her apartment and slept on the couch. 

‘Tomorrow is another day’ she repeated to herself as sleep overtook her. 

 

\-- The next morning --

A full sunbeam was placed directly onto Judy’s eyes as she rose from her slumber on the couch. As her mind raced to start back up, the unbelievable memories of yesterday rushed back to her. 

“NICK!” she yelled, sprinting from the pillow den to her bedroom door

Swinging it open she looked around the room for her partner and best friend. He was still sprawled out in the same spot that he was when she left the room yesterday. “Nick are you okay?” she hazarded, wondering if he had recovered from the past day’s excitement.

Nick started to get up from his spot on the floor, turning to face Judy. “Woah, what happened… I was dreaming that this elk came into the apartment yesterday… she, she drugged me and then wow. Uh, I think I went a bit crazy… that or feral” he looked all out of sorts, and Judy couldn’t help but want to embrace him.

 

“No worries, Nick I’m her-- ahhhhh” *thud* as she slipped over the wooden dowel and hit the ground

Nick looked wide eyed and in shock at what he had just seen. He hadn’t even seen the dowel on the floor, but then again he hadn’t been looking for it.

Groaning on the floor, Judy reached over and grabbed the infernal stick and proceeded to get off the floor. “Glad to know you’re okay there Slick, you had me worried sick!” making motions in the air with the dowel as if to prove a point. The only issue was that It triggered another bout of yesterday’s events. As he watched the stick swirl around in the air, Judy slowly stopped talking, seeing that he was no longer paying attention to her; rather he was riveted to the dowel.

“Nick… are you okay?”

“N-Never better fluff” as he watched the dowel arc through the air.

Judy was wholly unsure of the truth in his statement, doubly so when his eyes began to change. Going from circular pupils to slitted ones, shortly after the optical change he fell back down to four legs and began to start the same antic from yesterday when she threw the stick for him to fetch. 

Judy sighed and tossed the stick in a low arc over his head. Nick leapt up to catch it, but was barely too slow. His maw slammed shut over empty air as he flopped back to the ground. Judy took a moment to back out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Grabbing her phone, she started to dial the chief. It rang once, twice, three times; before the chief finally picked it up. “Chief, we have a motherfucking huge issue. Whoever it was that drugged Nick yesterday did something to him… I shook that stick from yesterday and he slipped back into that same savage state as yesterday. But he mentioned something I want to get checked, before he slipped back, he mentioned a ‘feral feeling’. I’m not certain what that is, but If we can find someone to check that…” she trailed off

“Fuck” pause “FUCKITY FUCK FUCK FUCK!” before the chief took another breath, “do you want us to bring another dose of the cure? Or come and pick him up?”

“No, he’s still very docile, but I want to get this fixed as soon as possible. It seems rather unfortunate for Nick if he’s now prone to becoming savage at the shake of a stick.”

“If you need help, or anything, call immediately. And if you need to tranq him, I expect you to do it. Bogo out”

Only a couple minutes later, after another two horrifying phone calls, Chief Bogo set his phone down on the corner of the table and flopped his head into the desk with a satisfying thump. “Those two are going to be the death of me, I swear” 

\-- Next Morning --

After waking up, Judy found herself hunched over the small island in the center of the kitchen setup. She had thought that there would be no more Nighthowlers, especially since it was outlawed in the city almost six months ago by the city council. It was deemed dangerous and would no longer be grown in any of Zootopia’s burroughs. How this elk had not only gotten it, but had then had the expertise, the time, and the space to create such a drug was wholly beyond her. But then again, she was mostly focused on Nick himself. Who was yet again, keeping himself entertained with that stupid wooden dowel.

Almost thirty minutes had passed by when she received another call from the chief. “Hopps, we have Doctor Karen Jaeger, she’s an expert in her field. She’s on route to your apartment.”

“Thanks chief” she replied back

“Don’t thank me just yet. This might be just the start of it.” he grimly stated back

It was about the end of her conversation when she heard the voice of her partner. It had never sounded so radiant, “NICK!!!! YOUR BACK!!!!!” she screamed.

For Nick’s part, he clutched his ears and tried to ignore the thundering bunny standing completely overhead. “What happened, I feel like I took a couple too many shots… and, wait…. Was I chewing on a stick?!”

Judy giggled as she watched him try to get the small chunks of the wood he had chewed off out of his mouth. It was funny to see him open his mouth and check his tongue like a list, as a mammal with a relatively small mouth and tongue, it wasn’t something she was used to seeing. ‘Who knows right’ she thought to herself.

As Nick’s tongue slurped back into his muzzle, his face took a rather serious tact. “Judy, what happened… I can remember most of it, but some is very fuzzy…” he trailed off

Judy was more than happy to relive some of the funny pieces. “When I shook the stick around, you really just zeroed in on it. Not sure why. But you did, and then when you went into whatever that was. You tried to play tug of war with me, it was pretty hilarious… you just wouldn’t let the damn thing go. So instead, I just gave it to you the second time. Figured it would be better that way.”

Nick stepped back and sat down on the corner of the bed, muzzle in paw, he sat for a couple moments in silence. “What did they do to me?” before flopping back down onto it and facing towards the ceiling.

Reaching out and pulling herself into his embrace, “I don’t know, but we’ll make it through this Nicky.” Together they laid on the mattress, waiting for the doctor that the Chief called to arrive.


	5. Tentacular Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One of the strangely numerous works I penned during my couple of months out of the scene, most of them will probably make their way here soon.
> 
>  
> 
> Nick and some friends find themselves caught in a gang hit, rather H.P Lovecraft inspired events transpire. This was mostly brought about by the handful of other stories that held an Eldritch theme in them, as well as a friend in real life who wouldn't stop harping about how good the "Call of Cthulhu" was. And this, like the others here, have a decently reasonable chance of being continued into some type of full-blown stories rather than spending eternity as one-shots. Enjoy, comments and corrections are welcome.

COLD… Nick felt cold, it was a nearly indescribably horrifying feeling to be cold in the middle of the rainforest district- even at night, the moist, humid air was simply too warm to feel it in this district of the sprawling metropolis. But nonetheless, Nick felt every little bit of heat slowly ebb away from his weakening form. He’d been walking with a couple of friends back to their shared apartment when they were jumped, Nick had thought they were far too low in the Bigs’ mafia chain to have been targets. But apparently they were wrong, Nick was only a low level dealer- not of drugs, but services. Manchas was a simple limo driver, and an old friend Duke- one of the slickest runners he’d ever known. 

But their height on the chain meant nothing apparently, Manchas lay in a haphazard heap- dead to all levels of the word, his body had been sliced up and down and had left long streaks of blood everywhere. Duke was a limp mess, having been hung from a vine nearly immediately after they had been jumped. Leaving Nick himself to take twenty-one shots straight to the chest, spraying blood everywhere and leaving him a bloody, cooling mess on the floor. 

As the darkness started to encroach on his vision, Nick could swear he could see yet another figure nearby. A strange and lanky animal wearing a very out of place trench coat, their face obscured by shadow, leaving only a pair of strangely shaped orbs with rectangular pupils that seemed to bore straight into his very being. Whoever this creature was, it was not his friend.

With a last act of defiance, Nick shakily turned his muzzle and spat a slowly congealing mass of blood and saliva at the foot of the nearest cat, smearing the streak across his pearly white shoes. Smiling to only himself, and for his fallen friends, Nick closed his eyes and waited for the end to come.

*CRUNCH* 

An instant of inebriation from the blow before everything faded into complete blackness, the serenity of the moment only lasted for a second. A slippery, slimy something edging up and around him, whatever it was, it drew his sense of internal balance vertical. The darkness allowed for Nick to begin reflection; on his life, his choices and the events that had taken place- but what he didn’t expect to feel, was a tingly and sparky feeling- ‘surely that isn’t something that comes with being dead?’ he thought, the mere idea seeming like complete lunacy. Dead means dead and mammals don’t un-dead… ever, and as such, Nick decided it would be foolish to put too much of his crushed hopes and dreams into that basket.

But this was one of those ‘contrary to popular belief’ moments where one literally eats their own words moments after they are spoken. *KKSCCHHHHZZZ* was the first sound that he registered in the deafening silence that surrounded the fox. ‘Th’fuck?’ was the only applicable thought before Nick’s mind contorted in horrendous pain, a searing jolt snapped into his body with a palatable *ZAP* as the previously unawares fox was jolted with the charged electricity.

As several aftershocks crackled through Nick’s body, he began to stir once again, his body still steaming- but not from the heat, instead it was fog rolling off his now frosted body. With chattering teeth, Nick’s eyes opened, “G-g-goddd, it’s s-so cold~” he chattered

“Too cold for you?” came an all too clear voice, it’s depth being truly troubling

Still shuddering, Nick turned to see the figure in question, it was that mammal from before- still donned in that trench coat, but it’s face was now partially visible. A shiny beak like maw, jagged at the edges as if it had been shattered open, “Are you okay Nicholas? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost?” asked the strange and gooey seeming creature, now obviously not a mammal.

“W-what are you?” gawked Nick, fright causing him to partially forget the bone-chilling cold that permeated his very being.

“They have many names for me; but they aren’t important” before the strange-eyed figure paused for a second, “but I suppose you could call me” the figure paused again, seemingly caught in its own diction “boss, yes, you can call me boss”

“What’s that to mean?!” chirped Nick, adrenaline kicking in- nearly making him jump away, only to be stopped by the frosty glare from the creatures’ cold eyes.

“In the past, some bowed and prayed to me as a god, others shunned those believers as cultists. But you, you can be of use to me” continued the smooth voice, sweet and sticky like syrup; the answer still not what the fox searched for.

With the fear now back in his mind, Nick forced himself to take a step back, “W-what do you want from me?!?” he yelled, before he managed to take another step back. Though the figure seemed even less inclined to answer his increasingly hysterical questioning.

“Wow, a strong one at that… such a good choice” murmured the creature before it reached out towards the fox, “I’m surprised you can stay on your feet, much less step away from me- especially since you’re a mere mortal” the jagged connotation it’s smooth voice had taken gave Nick a shuddering thought at to why it seemed to think of mortality as an issue- much less a detriment in it’s entirety.

Nick tried to shy away, but found himself unable to find more space behind him to back away, instead finding that the creature was reaching out to him. Instinctively, Nick swiped his paw at the paw shaped mass heading in his direction, only to have it caught by its arm- which, as it turned out, was just a mass of tentacles wrapped together to make a paw-like shape. ‘What!?’ thought Nick as he tried to free his paw to no avail, trying harder and harder to take his paw back. 

With a smooth click, Nick’s claws extended, allowing him to slice through the hold and take his paw free from the tentacled deity. “Ooh” it mocked, “Strong indeed” it’s voice taking on a gleeful tint, “Would you be interested in a new life, Nicholas?”

All the fight slipped from him, the hard edge stuck as he refused to let his paw move from its defensive posture. “What could you want from me?” asked the fox, unsure of why such a deity would be interested in him. Not to mention the sheer distaste mentioned at the thought of mortality.

“I find myself in need of… What do you mortals call it…” pausing in thought “An acolyte of sorts… you could think of it as being my enforcer” smiling as he realized that he has found a sufficiently enticing term for the honored position he had in mind for the fox, and at the shocked understanding that spread across his muzzle.

“Yes, that’s good and all… but what do you get out of this? It can’t just be me, I can’t be that important…” trailed the fox

“Don’t be so self-depreciating, you are important in your own right. But yes, it’s not entirely you- rather what I can do with someone with your skills… and desire” finished the monstrous immortal, “all you have to do is say yes~” urged the creature

“My desire?” asked Nick, already knowing what skills it was looking for

“Right now, you desire nothing but revenge” as the creature spoke, a spectral procession of what led to the fox’s demise played out all around the two. Finally giving Nick a reason to look out beyond his immediate area, seeing the vast expanse of blackness that seemed to stretch on for eons. “I am inherently chaotic, I thrive on it, insist upon it if you will.” pausing to take a hissed breath, “And the easiest way for me to get what I desire is to shake up the field and open it up for newer and greener spawn to take the place of old leviathans”

“So you want me to what? To kill other mammals?” 

“Yes, I want you to kill anyone and everyone that stands against our view of perfection, but yes, before you ask, evil works too” it stated with no hint of insincerity on the topic.

“So what do I get out of this deal again?”

“You get strength beyond your wildest dreams, life eternal, a truly silver tongue and last but not least… an insatiable hunger to match” before cracking an evil smile “but you’ll get your revenge, tenfold… so whaddya say? Care to join your new boss?” it repeated, stretching out a familiar- and still gooey- paw in a mock handshake.

“But what about me? Do I… will I be lost? Will I keep my free will? Wi-” Began Nick, the creature lopping off any remainder of his hesitant remark. 

“I want you to stay the way you are, it would reflect poorly if I used you like a hunting dog” before it’s paw clasped around Nick’s rather forcefully, the tentacles sliding up and around the fox. Fully entrapping him into their grasp “And so it is done” the voice permeated the very air, coming from all directions rather than the figure before him. Who instead blasted apart into a writhing mass of tentacles that further entrapped the now frightened fox.

“SHHH little one, just a moment and it’ll be all over”

A pair of long and sinuous tentacles branched off from the rest, at the tip of each was a long claw, ominous in nature. Both poised at the very edge of the fur on his now exposed chest, Nick had only a moment to think before they slammed down into his chest, pulling at something deep within- ‘he’ll tear out my heart!’ internally screamed the fox as the pressure mounted. Not a second later, the protruding tentacles rescinded from his chest cavity, a glowing blue orb clutched between their tips. At the sight of his own soul, Nick paled before he began to shift in pain- then fear, before stopping completely. The tentacles stretched further, pulling themselves closer around the fox’s soul, hundreds of wriggling black snake-like tendrils burrowed into the perfect sphere. As they dug deeper and deeper, the glowing blue shifted to a crimson red before the surface shattered, revealing the now blackened core- black ichor oozing slightly as it was returned back to Nick’s chest. 

“Go on Nicholas, I bestow upon thee the name of Ryh ’Kusa- eater of hope, devourer of worlds, serpent of hunger. Rend thy foe, none can escape your hunger” as the bunched up tentacular mass pushed the ichor dripping fox down into the water that he had been drawn out of.

\-- Present, Alive --

As Nick’s spirit rejoined his body, it began to violently convulse, drawing the attention of one of the still nearby felines. The hours that Nick had spent in the R’lyeh, home to the mystical and terrible deity that had bestowed whatever this was on him, had turned out to be only minutes at best. The single lynx that had noted the motion in Nick’s body quickly stepped back and away, darting into the house where the other two were still hunting through whatever goods they could find.

When the cords of Nick’s soul finished it’s new bonds, it sent surges of red and black energy through to every part of his body- the effect was immediate. Nick’s maw slowly sealed shut, the fur on his body slicking down to appear more like sharp spikes as it hardened, his blood- both in the wounds and out, began to turn black before it surged back over his body, replacing his tattered clothes with a shadowy and torn cloak, his ears snapped back in a forty-five degree angle before they too hardened into snake-like fins. Next came his eyes, each one glowing incandescent green as life surged back into his body, then his paws changed- each digit extending out and tapering down to a razored tip instead of his normal claws. 

The three cats came back out to survey the ‘still alive’ mammal that had been described by the lynx, only to see Nick raise back up from the ground to his feet without a hint of movement. The pool of blackness shifting to stay underneath his feet. “Mmm” he said aloud, “so hungry~” the words had come from the fox, but his mouth hadn’t even shown signs of opening. As if noticing it himself, Nick reached an inky paw up to his muzzle to feel the tapered wedge it had taken to, tracing a line around it where his mouth had been, he began to think ‘how can I eat with no mouth…’ an internal frown crossing his mind. The fox’s body instantly reacted to the desire, sending a shuddering *SNAP* through the air as his maw cracked open in a jagged pattern, furthering to allow a far too long tongue to snake out of the corrupted fox’s mouth and trace along it’s edge hungrily.

When the nearest one, a cougar, drew a blade to attempt to finish the now corrupted fox, he was pushed aside by the obvious leader. The leopard pulled a chrome-plated Kimber 1911, the shortened slide indicating that it had been modified to fire .308’s instead of the 1911-style’s usual ammo that stood out at a comparatively massive .45. “I got this” sneered the pompous cat, “Killed ‘em once, Imma do it again. Catching the slide with a paw, he threw the last spare clip in and cocked the firearm before clenching on the trigger several times. Instinctively Nick would have ducked for cover, tried to escape, or at least put distance between the two. But his new instincts told him to stand his ground, and to wait for them to attack him again- ‘revenge is sweet’ thought Nick flippantly, ‘a dish best served bloody fucking raw!’ as he gnashed his beak-like maw together.

As the rounds impacted into Nick’s toughened hide, they did absolutely no damage; but did manage to kick up a light splash of black ichor as they ricocheted into the pool at the fox’s feet. Nick stared at the columns of blackness with a hint of curiosity as they refused to sink back down, but hissed in approval when he saw them crack open their own jagged maws- each one with a different glow in their eyes, the depth of approval deepened when he saw each of their multi-colored eyes bleed into the same green he partook in. ‘Serpent of hunger~’ mused the fox, who’s infernal stomach growled at the thought, ‘hungry’ he continued. His new master’s last words echoing in a manic and strangely thankful manner as he leapt for the nearest one, sinking his own jagged maw into the leopard- tearing through both flesh and sinew with ease, stopping only when his jaw met bone. Before the other two could do anything save turn, they were enveloped in a wash of black coils and gnawing maws.

Bloodcurdling screams and a final volley of shots tore from the trio for merely a second before they fell silent forever, their debts having been collected- payment in waiting, and finally, he felt satiated.


	6. Ragnarok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This idea hit me earlier today after I finished part of my philosophy course. There are some creative liberties taken with description of the two characters in the story, I've also used this as an opportunity to shift perspectives. Consider it a venture into different style and currently tied between this and the previous (eldritch) theme for my next writing piece. comments, questions, remarks and edits are all welcome. Enjoy.

**_I don’t think you understand_ **

       “Of course I do!”

**_You couldn’t possible hope to understand_ **

       “I was ostracized too! I know how you feel… we’ve been through the same”

**_No… no we have not_ **

The tension that had previously been felt through an empathetic understanding became real, the world shook with the sheer potency of his rage.  The ground quaked, trees groaned and wind tore through.  It wasn’t that he had started screaming, it wasn’t that all of these physical dangers were appearing or at least had visually manifested.  It was that he had gone beyond furious, rage was no longer an applicable term, the flames had burned away his entire being.  He became wrath.

      “You can’t do this! You lied about having that power! You can’t be **Sköll** ,”

It was a miracle that she could be heard at all at the epicenter of this cataclysm, a front row seat to reality shattering to meet his will.  Boulders leapt from the ground, thrown by an unseen force before raining back down in a hail of thundering crashes, several trees were torn from the ground before they were obliterated- becoming little more than brown and grey streaks in the storm brewing around them.

**_I was created with one purpose_ **

       “....”

**_To destroy, annihilate, devour… I am finality_ **

She tried to reach out for him once more only to be hurled back into one of the stones that had fallen before, the impact felt as though she had hit a pane of glass instead of a boulder prompting her to open her previously closed eyes.  The world around her was cracking, shattering into pieces before they blew away in the wind.  Peering back towards the now fully black-cloaked figure she had been conversing with, she was horrified to see a maw full of jagged teeth open to encircle a massive orb of light soaring high in the darkness

**_They created doom from an old prophecy, she wanted a winning play; an ace in the hole_ **

Horrified by the creature before her, she tried to retreat back into the world she had been in. Pressing back through the shattered shroud only to find that the beast had already followed through. It's massive size allowing It to stand to the Sun.

“this is madness! You monster! Demon! Devil!”

**_Don't liken me to that_ ** **_filth_ ** **_. I was born to devour sól, this is what I was created to do._ **

The creature leaned out, maw wide, snapping it shut on the glowing orb that floated in the sky.  She shielded her eyes as a bright flash blasted Out, when it disappeared, she managed to crack her eyes open once more; only this time to a horrifying sight.  The creature had taken a less civilized form, a massive black fox standing on all fours, fur gleaming with the dead-light of devoured stars.

**_What? Expecting a wolf? Welcome to Ragnarok friend, if your experiences are akin to mine, you’d know this is how it always ends_ **

        “.....”

Her words failed her, all had been lost, she was too foolish to understand what she looked at; even when it told her directly what it intended.  A couple weak sobs escaped her as she came to terms with the waning future ahead.  As everything faded into a dim buzz, the last thing she heard was manic laughter before darkness overtook all.


	7. Iluzija

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mixed snapshot of an interesting idea sparked by an errant conversation while marathon-watching all of the resident evil movies. If you haven't watched or don't know much concerning the differences between the resident evil games and the movies; I won't try to explain, the games get rather crazy and that is where this idea branched from.
> 
> or
> 
> That one story where Nick gets infected with some nasty shit
> 
> Not sure if I still need to say this multiple chapters/stories in. But I only own the computer I wrote this from, Disney's got the rest.

\-  **One Month prior** -

A young rabbit kit sat cowering in a small corner, her brother shuffled into the nook behind her, “shhh Jack… shhhh, we’re going to be okay” she consoled, her breathing hitched slightly as an inconsistent dripping sound began to come closer instead of the static drips that seemed to pervade the entirety of the ruined building. 

Pressing herself closer to her brother, covering him entirely with her body, she attempted to look out of the nook.

“Oh, you’re still safe” came a frighteningly close voice

“Aah!” she yelped, falling backwards

“Shhh” said the darkness shrouded figure, “The bad mammals are gone, you’re safe now” a large paw grasped onto her body and presumably another onto her brother. “Please don’t return to this place, it’s not safe here…” as the figure moved towards the sunlight-shrouded bay-doors, “but I suppose if you are being trailed again, lead them back to me and I will do my best to keep you safe”

With the trio coming out of the darkened warehouse and into the light, Mia looked up to the mammal that had protected them; a fox, a red fox dripping blood.  “Oh my god” she whimpered dejectedly

“No, no, none of that” he said, putting her and her brother onto one of the few remaining benches before reaching up to wipe a tear off her muzzle, “now please” he said, putting as much friendly charm into his facade as possible, “tell me what you came looking for, and~” he cut her off, “Why RASP soldiers were after you”

Sniffling, Mia regaled him, “W-we were looking for more food… one ration card isn’t enough for a whole family” her voice started to crack, tears starting to stream, “Those soldiers saw us searching and have been harassing us for the past week” the small girl was now outright crying now, tears streamed unbidden from her eyes as she held her brother close, “Th-they threatened to feed us to one of those creatures”

The fox hid his shock quickly as he reached behind him and snagged the ration cards he had scavenged, including his unused ones, “here” he placed the cards into her small paw, closing her paw around them, “You’ll obviously need them more than I do” his heart warmed at her shocked expression before he urged them to return home with a quick, “Go on, don’t dawdle, you’re parents are probably going mad looking for you.”  With the rabbits gone, Nick slipped back into the warehouse he had made into his home since the short-lived outbreak of the RASP created virus, in the quick couple moments it took for him to reach the room he made into a living area, he passed by the scattered rifles and helmets that failed to remain attached to the soldiers they had been given to. 

Allowing himself to flop onto the comfortable mattress below, he sighed, “I wish this was all one terrible, horrible nightmare…” closing his eyes, “Would just go back to the way it was”

\-  **Current Time** -

“Agents” began to buffalo from the other end of the video call, “RASP high command has been neutralized and has been removed from quarantine duties over the affected area.  Several updates that may not have been in your previous briefing have been loaded to your codexes, you may not have to worry about active B.O.W infections or savage mammals; but I strongly suggest that you stay on your toes in the Rainforest District.”

“Why is that sir?” asked William Wolford, second in command of the small ZBI crew.

“Because it was the first inter-city stronghold of RASP’s to fall, we may have done quite a bit with previous sorties, but we’ve definitely not done enough to take out the number that has been reported.  I suspect some type of foul play; be it infected or mammals finding the right end of a firearm, and you Doctor Hopps, I need you to get as much of whatever it is you need for further investigation.  I have no intention of endangering my assets more than I need to”

As Judy clipped her shute on, Jane stepped over to the video feed, “Roger that, Fangmeyer out” before she dove past both rabbit and wolf and out of the back of the chopper and into the lush rainforest below.  As the two remaining mammals nodded towards the video feed, they too followed their leader out of the chopper and to the ground. Looking around, Judy found herself looking out towards a large warehouse style building where several lights were visible in a couple of the overhead windows before they were snuffed out by an unseen force.  “Come in Jane” stated the rabbit.

“Copy” stated the lead agent

“I see light in large building, looks like it’s a click west from L.Z” returned the rabbit

The wolf quickly interjected, “I can copy Hopps’ observation, I saw the lights too” as the two popped their chutes for landing.

By the time Judy and Will landed, Jane had already packed her chute away and was covering their landing.  “Get that shit packed away, we need to move asap!”  was all Jane said as she started to move towards the walkway up to the previously indicated warehouse.

Only a couple minutes later, the trio of agents were moving quickly through the widely abandoned streets; passing several poorly marked mass graves on the way.  “Poor bastards” spat Judy; having been one of the few mammals to have been present at any of the epicenter locations and survived, she knew first-paw what RASP’s toxin did to the mammals it infected.

“Was it really that bad Doc?” asked Will, the wolf having been out of country during the first and second attacks having sheltered him from the horrors.

“Yeah” she sighed jadedly, “If you weren’t killed or turned savage by the initial infection, you had a large chance to be mutated into a B.O.W”

“And if you weren’t?”

“Then you were killed either by the infected, or by the frightened prey trying to make heads or tails of a terrifying situation” she was silent for a couple moments before continuing, “I believe that the infections were kept to a minimum, it mustn’t have been as infective as it was supposed to be… though that didn’t stop the prey from assuming that all preds were infected and killing en-masse to prevent them from going batshit from the infection”

“Fuck…” was all he replied with

The tigress turned to them, “shhh, we’ve got contacts at twelve o’clock” before motioning towards the two small figures sitting in the doorway of the warehouse.

“They’re kits Jane, prey kits, they can’t be infected, they aren’t dangerous” chirped Judy

“Ight, Doc, you’ll take point on this… no need to frighten them” stated Jane before they formed up and advanced towards the rabbits sitting in the ray of moonlight.

As they came closer, Judy was able to pick up a third voice in the conversations rotation; the two small rabbits and something just in the edge of the warehouse’s darkness enshrouded interior.  As soon as she was nearly within physical distance, she heard a light growl from inside the building, alerting the rabbits to their approach.  “Jack, get behind me” stated the taller of the two,  “Who are you, and what do you want” she stated in a forced casual manner, still backing up towards the darkness and assumed safety.

“I’m a doctor and we’re from the ZBI on a scouting mission looking for any remaining RASP soldiers and infected” Judy quickly responded, hoping she could keep them out in the open, “This is our squad leader Jane, and my partner Will” leaning down so that she was the same height as the small kits, “you are safe with us, we don’t want to hurt you”

“No” blanched the tan rabbit

“Why?” questioned Judy

“I-I’ve heard that before, those soldiers told us they were here to keep us safe. That we would be safe,” her backing up increased in speed, matching with her fervor of speech, “until they threatened to feed us to those creatures they created, never again!” she yelled before pushing back into the darkness and out of the light.

“Come on!” grouched Judy as she leapt in after them, hoping to pull them from the darkness quickly before they could disappear into it’s depths.  Only to have something dense strike her center-mass and send her flying out of the warehouse and directly into her squadmates in a very ungraceful manner.  “Ugh” she groaned, her vest having protected her from any lasting damage, but not from the pain of being tossed like a ragdoll.

“Don’t be so rash Judy, we don’t know what we’re dealing with here! Don’t assume they’re not dangerous because they’re prey… you don’t know what they’ve had to do to survive here.” hissed her leader, “I could understand coming to approach them, but not running into the dark after them”

“Duly noted for next time… and I assure, that’ll be the last time” she groaned, being helped up by Will.

“So what now Fang?” asked the wolf

Grasping for her light, “I’d say we continue to try and speak to them, unless you fancy trying to get to or find a couple more survivors here… somewhere.” her light illuminated a decent chunk of the interior, but not enough that she could find the two rabbits, nor any sign of whatever had thrown her agent clear from the ground. “Judy” she pondered, “Did you get a visual on whatever threw you?”

“Nah, felt like I got hit with a car though” came Judy’s still pained reply.

Grabbing her kit, she leaned back against a nearby bench, “I say we wait for them, if they don’t come back out I’m sure if they still have a parental figure here they’d come looking for their kits” before she sprawled out sideways, “Hopps, you’ve got first watch”

As the three agents readied themselves for a long wait, a lone figure watched them from the edge of the warehouse’s cover, turning back to the two small figures crouched in his den at the back, “They’re not leaving” he whispered, pausing a moment to think, “Do your parents know that you are here?” he queried, worried that the parents might come to find them and be attacked by more of those crazed soldiers, steeling himself, he lifted open the floor hatch in the back of the warehouse.  “Here” he urged, “This hatch will take you down to the outflow just below the stairs down below those mammals”

“Please come with us… They might hurt you” whimpered Jack, the smallest of the two rabbits.

“Hush now, we’ve discussed this… I-I can’t leave” he answered, the sound of his voice distancing itself before a pair of large paws lowered them into the storm drain, “Quickly now, leave before the lookout can see you and  wake the others and you’ll be fine”

Watching as the small kits left through the pipe and towards the outflow and to safety, Nick found himself sighing in relief.  ‘ _ At least they will be safe’ _ he thought proudly, he had managed to save as many lives as possible before others came to find him, ‘ _ if this is what they want’ _ he thought defiantly, staring longingly towards the freedom beyond the three mammals on the bench; ‘ _ then it’s what they’ll get’ _ .

\-  **Next Day** \- 

Judy was the first to wake among the group, looking around, her eyes rested on her wolf-partner ‘ _ he fell a fucking sleep’ _ she thought ‘ _ goddamn useless’ _ before she looked to the tiger who was just starting to stir, the sunlight addling her eyesight and forcing her to change position to become comfortable.  Reaching into her pocket, the tiger pulled a large pair of sunglasses out and placed them on her muzzle.  With the glare gone, she could see into the large warehouse; rusted out machinery and all.  “Judy, Will, report.” she stated, clipped and proper.

“No sign of movement or action during my watch” reported Judy, “Still no movement or sign of action”

Turning to the wolf, who was trying to shrink into his own shadow, “You forgot to wake me up Wolfy!” growled the tiger, “What if they came back out and attacked us in our sleep, what if RASP soldiers were still present in the area! We. could. be. Dead!” her growls reached a crescendo before she fell silent upon hearing huffing breath and loud steps coming up the staircase.  “Get down” she whispered

As soon as the three shuffled back to the edge, beyond the bench, three lightly armored RASP soldiers came up the front steps.  “This the place?” asked the first,

“Yea” came a reply from the other, “You think he’s still here?”

“No fucking doubt, you don’t go around killing like that unless you’re trying to make enemies… I just hope it’s some delusional prey” he finished in a huff, “and not some infected pred with a wrath complex” he added after catching his breath.

Fangmeyer noted that these must not have been classically trained soldiers, they failed to check the area they were entering, and their gear was nearly in tatters from improper care.  Turning back to the rabbit and wolf, “Let them go, I want to see what happens here… that, and I don’t want to find out what they’d try to do if they knew we were here from the agency”

- **Nick** -

With the sunlight streaming through the cracks in the roof, and a commotion outside his makeshift home, Nick turned to look beyond the open bay-door.  ‘ _ Three mammals… armored, weapons…. Fuck’ _ he thought  _ ‘They didn’t leave’ _ the feeling of helplessness in his situation prevaded his being, there was no other way, he’d  **_have_ ** to kill them, if they left, more would come to find him. ‘ _ Now or never’ _ he thought before letting the infection take over again; blood boiling as flesh tore and fused together, fur hardening and breaking as his body stretched.  His maw shattered and the bone fused back as it too lengthened, pulling away from him as his teeth too changed; last to go were his eyes, a burning sensation and momentary blindness before everything came into terribly sharper focus.

Taking a quick taste of the air, Nick could still smell Mia and Jack as well as these new mammals at the precipice of his den, all he had to do was wait for them to come in.  ‘ _ A trap’ _ he internally smirked, his body coiling across and through the ceiling’s beams before his body became invisible- the only spot left was the inside of his mouth, the pinkish red interior lined with sharp teeth and adorned with two massive fangs at the front.  The B.O.W fox’s mouth watered at the idea of fresh food, his mind no longer fully capable of denying what his infection demanded.

\-  **Third** -

The three RASP soldiers quickly entered into the door, again not checking their flank as the ZBI agents filled back into cover behind them, Judy looked through her rifle scope; tipping up the ranged second-scope, she looked in at the three mammals that had walked in.

The instant the third mammal; an elk, crossed the precipice of the door, Nick’s huge mouth dropped down and clamped around his entire upper body- long fangs driving through it’s torso.  The other two turned just in time to see the upper body of their squadmate disappear into something before a huge spray of blood erupted with a matching spray of automatic gunfire as the wapiti was shook around in the creature’s maw before it raced back up into the ceiling of the warehouse.  Judy’s breath hitched as a quick crunching sound met her ears before one of the elk’s antlers crashed to the floor, “Jane~” she warned.  Nick watched as the two remaining mammals stood back to back as they shuffled towards the exit and the freedom beyond, the idea sickened him, this feeling spurred his movement; racing along the ground to steal away one of the final two, a ram.

With the sickening crunches seeming to reverberate in her head, Judy began to warn Jane once more before she was stunned into silence by the first RASP indigent to walk in screaming in horror as she tried to escape only to have her leg caught  by that same creature.  Will looked away as he saw the creature began to lift her from the concrete.  From there, Nick violently tossed himself towards the ceiling, cringing in internal joy as he heard the antelope’s body break against the roofing before drawing her back into the building to devour his kill.

“What is * **THAT** *” chirped Judy, even having seen more than her fair share of infected and B.O.W’s from her time in an epicenter zone

“That” calmly stated Jane, “Is too fucking big for us to kill”

Horror plastered to his muzzle, “No fucking shit boss, that  **_thing_ ** is fucking crazy!” as he tried to steady his rifle to no avail

‘ _ Those kits were talking with it before’ _ thought Judy, remembering the night before.  Taking a chance, she drew her rifle to her back with her shoulder strap before taking a tentative step towards the bloody doorway, “H-hello in there?” she shakily asked

A gravelly growl was her only reply from the darkness, “H-Hi” she meekly stated, never having been on her own so close to a live B.O.W in before.

“Doc, get away from that doorway this instant” snarled Jane

Judy payed no heed, “Can you come out? We are here to help… we’ve come from the ZBI to ensure that this sector is safe from the RASP corporation” before quietly adding, “and to investigate what’s given us the upper hand here against their foothold”

As a response to her query, Nick nudged the antelope’s helmet out of the doorway, then the other two.  “You are still in control aren’t you” chanced Judy.  With no way to give an answer, Nick leaned over to the loading bay controls and depressed the green button with his tongue, the corresponding light shining above the bloody doorway.  “My  _ god _ ” was all she answered, “You really are, can you come out? I’m a doctor, I’m working with the ZBI to create a cure for the infection”

Nick tasted the air once more, a familiar taste wracked him, ‘ _ Jack, Mia!’ _ he internally roared.  The two rabbits must have gone and brought someone with them.  He watched for the moment, waiting pensively to see what would come up the stairs and was shocked when the two rabbits and their father and older brother leapt up the steps brandishing scavenged weapons.  His instincts tore at him as he watched the agents beyond the door lift their own arms towards the rabbits, everything seemed to slow as the scene devolved into something he truly feared; only a second later, he burst past the doctor, still cloaked and heading towards the small group of rabbits just in time to put himself between the two groups.  Feeling the strong taps from several bursts of rounds impacting his hide, Nick closed his coil around the rabbits.

“Stop shooting!” Judy yelled, hoping to gain the attention of her assigned squad. “Stop shooting!”  As quickly as Judy managed to reach the group, she saw that Jane and Wolford were backing up to the cover they had previously used, she could see the rabbits inside the wall of coils invisible mammal, but couldn’t see the whole outline as it meshed too well with the surrounding area.

With the gunfire having quelled, Judy reached out and placed a paw on the invisible B.O.W. “They are friendly, I promise” hoping to keep it calm, “They are with the ZBI too… I’m sure it would make them less scared if they could see you, I promise they won’t shoot you again” she said, staring daggers at the predators behind her.

A great sigh escaped the large creature as the natural camouflage melted away, revealing a rust colored snake of vast implication.  The maw was easily large enough to fit a Jane’s top half in entirely and the height of it’s body appeared to be roughly as tall as Judy was on first glance.  “Okay, baby steps now… Can you please uncoil from the family, they have nothing to fear from us” asked Judy, trying to make her facade of calmness overwhelm the fright she was feeling from the massive infected mammal before her.

Nick turned to look at the four mammals at the center of his protection, two great big emerald eyes focused onto them; pensive and waiting.  The tense silence only lasted a couple moments longer before the snake stretched back and began to remove itself from the prey it had protected; before Judy could step over to it again, it began to thrash and twist violently; almost akin to what could have been expected from a snake after it entrapped its prey.  Nick thrashed for a couple more moments before his body began to recondense; nearly all of his biomass was reconstituted back into his body, and the small remainder quickly began to smoke before it turned to ash- blowing away in the wind.  Doctor Hopps’ eyes bulged as she watched a fox flop to the ground where the snake had been, “No way” was all she could gasp out, pacing around the fox, waiting for it to get up on it’s own rather than try and touch him.

Coughing, the fox rolled over. “So you weren’t more RASP’s” he stated, still looking directly upwards

“Yeah” softly answered Judy

Lifting himself off the floor, noting quietly that the other two agents continued to keep him in their sights as he moved to the small family of rabbits.  Seeing the pained looks on Mia and Jack’s faces, “Shhh, this sector should be clear now… if what these agents say is true, you will all be alright.  You still have enough ration cards right?” he asked, visage painted with worry for the safety of the kits.

The tan colored rabbit stepped away from her older brother and father to give Nick a hug, “Y-yes, we’re going to be fine. All thanks to you!” she said, voice far  _ too _ peppy. “They’re going to take you away aren’t they…” she trailed dejectedly.

“Yeah, I’m going to go with the doctor here and the agents to see if we can help those other mammals who’ve been exposed… maybe even fix this whole mess” before he stepped away from the rabbits and towards the agents, whom had already begun to call in for a transport chopper.  Smiling, he waved back to them before disappearing into the field behind the warehouse with them.

“So… fox… you’re infected right?” prodded Will before turning to Judy, “Is  _ it _ infectious?”

Judy turned to face the wolf, “Is what infectious?”

“The fox… is  **_it_ ** infected? Can it infect us?” he asked callously, frightened of the answer he might receive.

Judy turned to look at the fox, who for a moment, looked as though he might explode.  She could almost feel the fire behind his eyes before all of it was snuffed out, ‘ _ he’s been through so much’ _ she thought, hurt.  Turning to face the wolf once more, she plunged her fist into his abdomen before kicking him square in the muzzle.

“Eyegh!” he groaned, falling over.

“This…  _ Fox _ , has a name, and I’m certain  **_he_ ** ’s not infective unless you want to have him bite you… so, in the name of all that is holy, treat him like a real mammal before you coerce him into something we don’t want in account of self preservation” threatened the rabbit, her words felt like beams of sunlight to the fox. ‘ _ Someone cares… someone finally cares’ _

Jane raised an eyebrow to the actions of the assigned doctor, surely she knew this fox was a liability, but she couldn’t deny that it meant they only had to treat him more like a normal mammal.  His psyche was most definitely injured or suffering, not to mention what must have occurred in the time since the outbreak here, and poking him like a bomb would not end well for any mammals involved.  “Get your ass off the floor Wolford, if you can’t find anything nice to say about our guest, then don’t say anything at all… if you have anything smart to say, you can come to me after we get back to base” 

The wolf let go of his muzzle to speak.

“I don’t think this looks like HQ Wolfy, shut the fuck up before I let the fox shut you up for me” Jane let the threat hang heavy in the air, she didn’t deny that the fox looked less than interested in hurting the wolf, but she couldn’t deny the effectiveness of such a threat.  Turning to the incoming sound of spinning rotors, “sounds like our ride is here, what’s your name fox?” asked the tigress, extending a paw for a shake.

Cautiously eyeing up the tiger, Nick stared into her eyes for a couple moments before proceeding.  Surprisingly, she didn’t flinch or move from her stoic positioning when the two paws met, “My name is Nick Wilde”

With Jane stepping away, Judy stepped to Nick, “Pleasure to meet you, I’m Doctor Judith Hopps, looks like we’ll be working together for quite some time; I hope you don’t mind”

“Not at all Fluff, I actually look forward to seeing if you’ll find a cure for this” he intoned towards himself and his acquired condition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. If you've got any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to comment below so I can do my best to fix them.


	8. Iluzijia: Yawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second half so far for the strange amalgamation created from mixing resident evil with Zootopia. I have a small backlog of stories to add to this one-shot collection and will be adding them over the course of a week or so.

It had been nearly two weeks since they had come and extricated him from the Rainforest District, the long chopper ride out into the Savannah lands just beyond the edges of the city. The large complex of buildings surrounding a central tower had become rather familiar to him since his arrival, they chose to allow him to travel freely as long as he was under the guidance and watchful gaze of Doctor Hopps and an ample sized security detail.  Leaning back, he found a comfortable position at the base of a tree just inside the fenced in compound.  The fox’s stomach growled in distaste of his lack of intake, he could feel it yearning for sustenance.  ‘ _ But how will they react…’ _ the singular thought paralyzed him, surely they had to know that those dead RASP soldiers had to have gone somewhere; the fear mixed with a calming feeling that they hadn’t sent anyone to look inside the warehouse, surely the piles of armor and weapons that hadn’t been devoured would have given them second thought to what they were doing.

“I figured you’d be here Nicholas” came a small voice from right behind him, shocking him out of his internal struggle.

“Oh, uh, yeah… it’s very calming here” he hastily replied 

“Nicholas, you’ve not been eating since you arrived here… are you feeling alright?” asked the lapine doctor, “Is it something to do with the infection? Or is it because of any other extraneous circumstances?” she continued, flipping her notepad open to a blank page as she kneeled down.

Nick was quick to realize that the guards that normally stood post around him had disappeared, “ _ just what was this rabbit planning? _ ” He hastily constructed a response for her, “I- uh… I’m not hungry, I ate a lot before you guys brought me here” refusing to look directly at her, he kept his gaze bolted to a path of clovers.

The rabbit’s note taking slowly came to a stop before she took hold of his shoulder, “Nicholas, I can’t believe that for an instant” His heart raced, his brain tried to catch up but was thrown aside when his mouth opened to retort “Shhh~ Mr. Wilde, I don’t know why you’re trying to fool me here.  I’m a PHD MD of Genetics and Virology, I may not be a fox, but I do know what you should be eating” she paused, flipping her notes over, “I’d think it’s safe to say that the toxin did more than adversely affect what you can look like…” before adding, “ When was the last time you ate a meal not consisting solely of protein?”

Nick tried, but couldn’t answer her, surely he had eaten something green in the past month and a half… but no, all he could imagine were the RASP soldiers and unfortunate mammals that came into his warehouse when he wasn’t in control.  As he shied away from her, mind beginning to piece together his puzzle.  

“Just as I thought” she said, the continuation of her peppy tone frightened him; almost more than his own condition. “Your changed genetics must have caused this,” it almost seemed as though she spoke to herself as she stood, “The marked increases overall during shifts must be the catalyst for protein and calcium to construct both forms” before she looked back at him in confusion, “Aren’t you coming?” As the two walked, Nick quickly noticed the armed guards start to reappear in his periphery; more and more as they closed in on her laboratory.  As soon as they entered into the lab, “Please sit down on the gurney and I’ll start the test.  Nick nodded his assent as she moved into the sheltered control room overlooking the room, ‘ _ All I need is for him to let go of his worry… it’ll make this easier for the both of us’ _ she thought before clicking a set of buttons across the command console.

\-  **Nick** -

Sitting on the gurney, he found himself looking up through the glass and to the rabbit up in the control room; several armed soldiers standing by each door.  He felt antsy, shifting uncomfortably as he waited for something to happen.  Suddenly a sharp and cloying scent wafted into the room, nearly rendering him insensate.  Unconsciously the fox began to sniff at the air before his tongue suddenly changed without focus; Judy watched rapt as the appendage seemed to tear and stretch until the tip split in twain.  The now non fox-fitting appendage danced out of his maw in quick bursts to taste the air in the room; further augmenting his sense of smell. It only took a couple more seconds before his hindbrain connected with the scent ‘ _ food!’ _ it cried, Nick’s mouth watered, hungering for even just a taste.  He quickly shuffled off the bed and began to look around the room for the source of the smell, his searching quickly turned somewhat frantic as his conscious mind shifted into a passenger seat, allowing his body to start its changes in time with his movements, further allowing the B.O.W fox to search with greater efficiency.

Judy watched in awe from the protected control room, the fox she had just been talking with was shifting right before her eyes; pressing the voice recorder on her workstation, she moved on with the experiment.  “Opening vents, scent in room has reached sixty five percent, patient has already shifted greatly from prior form, tongue changed first.  I hypothesize that it was to assist Mr. Wilde in finding the source of the scent; chickens held in containers behind several of the walls.”

Nick’s lower body started to shift as he moved, his tail melting into his legs as they seamlessly pulled together into a long appendage, Judy noted a sharp and short pang of pain that flashed across his face when his body cracked up, forming scales along his underbelly and back.  The pain lasted for barely a second before his stomach started to hammer his brain with hungering pains, addling his mind and forcing him to search more frantically; he didn’t even bother thinking to cloak himself as his frantic searching became a room wrapping experience.

“Releasing four chickens into the room in three, two, one.  Subject Wilde is showing signs of what has been witnessed to be savagery, however, it appears that he is in control and hasn’t been lost to the infection. Note: I hypothesize that in Nicholas’s case, it is tied to survival.  As of the time of this recording, he has been monitored and hasn’t eaten a single meal since arriving here at HQ.  Now continuing the experiment”

The sweet taste of food came so achingly close as he slithered around the large chamber, stopping only when he spotted the four feathery delicacies moving along by the end of his tail.  

“Subject has spotted the initial food source, he is slowing down” Judy spoke quickly into the recorder, nearly at the same speed she jotted down what she watched through the reinforced glass.

Nick made his tail wiggle, while ridiculously larger than a worm; it would do as a distraction, he stared with bated breath at the feathery avians as they looked away from his head and down to his gently wagging tail.  Taking a single moment to coil more of himself behind his head, he lunged forward incredibly fast, pulling three of the four into his maw with ease.  Judy watched with practiced care as Nick came around for the last one, opening his mouth in what she could only describe as a yawn before his tongue curled onto the last bird- relishing in the taste before his mouth slammed shut on it the instant it attempted flight.

“Subject has eaten the first four, though, it still appears he can smell the others even though their rooms haven’t been opened, intriguing.” as she watched him slither over to the matching door on the other side.

Nick could still smell the birds, he could still feel the hunger in the pit of his stomach.  He brushed up against the door, trying to see if he could coax it into opening, when that failed, he reared up and bashed his side into it, cracking the tiles on the wall. He crashed into it again and again, each time, the smell got stronger until he forced a crack in the wall to open, with it, he let his tongue snake into it.  ‘ _ Food!’ _ his instincts cried again, his hunger not yet satiated.  Having already tasted the meal hidden behind the wall, he struck it again; widening the crack until he could get his fangs into it.

“Mr. Wilde is using his elongated fangs in a manner akin to pry bars, it seems that even the reinforcements built into the walls aren’t enough to keep up” she stated, watching the large snake quite literally rip the cage from the wall before his maw crushed it and the chickens slid into his gullet.

Moving quickly, Nick came to the third wall, the one furthest from the glass on the other side.  Wasting no time, he smashed his tough hide into it until it broke open; just like the last.  Before again, dragging the cage from the wall, though, this time it was much larger and contained more feathery birds than the last two.  In a similar manner to the last cage, he pried the front open and tipped it up so they would slide down and into his maw.

“Subject… god, this is getting annoying” grumbled the rabbit, “I’ll just call him Nick and be done with it”  Moments later, she leaned back in her swivel chair, “It seems as though Nick has finished pretty quickly with extracting the other chickens out of the walls even though we hadn’t yet released them” leaning into the desk to rest her elbows, “I can visually, and with the in room sensors, make a confident assessment to the slowing of his erratic movements and of his increase in both heart rate and breathing.”  her paw moved like lightning along the computer screen, auto scrolling through the document to allow her to continue to write unbidden.

The crushing emptiness that had revoked his mind and replaced it with a instinctual need to simply feed had finally abated, he looked back to the glass; now fully in control of himself, the look of adoration so strong that Judy could feel it simply through the fervor conveyed through his stare.  A low rumble, so deep it reverberated through to the inside of the protective enclosure, bubbled through the fox’s daunting appearance as he shifted about the room; never once ceasing eye contact with the rabbit inside the glass box.

Feeling more confident, Judy leaned towards the mic.  “Nick, can you hear me?” a somewhat distant nod was all she got from the snake, “Can you please open your mouth, I’d like to inspect your tooth and jaw structure”

As soon as the words left the speaker, Nick; wanting to help as best as possible, and now somewhat inebriated from is instincts, opened his steel trap of a jaw and languidly closed it around the glass observation area.  A couple of the soldiers standing guard shifted uneasily as they watched the snake close it’s mouth on the observation window, his twinned fangs still folded up against the roof of his mouth.

“Amazing” pausing to lift her notepad up, “It appears as though the internal musculature for his tooth and jaw structure are still widely similar to that of a red fox.  His two upper canines have elongated into fangs; whether venom is contained, I do not yet know” she stated, unawares that Nick could still hear her through the glass, “It would also appear that his jaw has taken to a rather reptilian shape here at the front, closing into a small curve rather than the pointed or flat frontal jaw for the fore-row of teeth.” she paused her note taking to lean towards the mic, “Nick, can you please camouflage yourself, we’ve only got a couple more moments of observation before we can finish”

True to her request, Nick; still more than happy to oblige, began to shift his coloring.  Judy watched with bated breath as the red snake before her almost completely disappeared from view, she could still make out the shifting coils if she focused for movement, but if she hadn’t been looking for it she would have no chance of even catching a glimpse. “After Nick camouflaged himself, all but his eyes and the inside of his mouth have become nigh invisible.” Her notes concluded with a click with the cover on her tablet snapping back into place, leaning into her recording device, “I am now going to enter into the enclosure to test Nick’s for any traces of toxin from his fangs” noting the inconsistent shifting from her assigned guards, “I will also be taking Lt. Fangmeyer and squadmate William Wolford into the enclosure with me to ensure safety” before she stepped away from the desk and retrieved a pair of gloves along with a lump of ballistic gel which she placed overtop of a sheet of plastic.  “Will, grab that for me please” calmly requested the rabbit.  Having heard her, Nick let go of the viewing area, allowing his head to sink down to the floor while still keeping focused on the glass with his periphery covering the doorway in from the control room.

Judy stepped out of the relative safety of the viewing room, tailed by her two chosen guards and headed directly for the now increasingly visible snake sprawled out on the floor.  Stepping up to the edge of his mouth, “Now Nick, please open up” moving her paws in a manner to encourage him to open his mouth.  Will backed up a step as he watched the lapine nearly step into the giant fox’s mouth to reach up with a tape measure the distance between his large fangs.

“Wolford, if you can’t handle the heat, leave the kitchen” came Fangmeyer’s harsh snap

The wolf was quick to remedy his toasted pride, “I’ll make it boss” as he stepped back with the faux body in paw.

Palming one of the collection jars, she motioned for the wolf to place it on the gurney still next to the fox.  She worked quickly to attach it below the indicated bite areas, looking from the fox’s mouth to the bite toy, she realized the issue.  “He can’t bite down on this unless we can stop his lower jaw from closing the distance between itself and the other, shit”

“Plan Doc?” asked Jane, focused on the now closing maw.

“We” she paused, “Are going to place the dummy on the gurney and put it into his mouth”

“That’s not too large?” asked the wolf

“We can collapse it until it fits” she replied, dropping the heavy dummy onto the gurney. “Quick, help me move this over” as she started to push it.  Jane and Will infinitely expedited the process by simply lifting it and rolling it over to the fox who helpfully widened his mouth again; true to Wolford’s earlier assumption, the gurney was too large unfolded for the fox to get his fangs into a biting position.

“Hmm, whadda ya know” he smirked

“Yeah, if he were trying to bite something this large, he’d have to adjust his bite pattern to encompass a wide enough portion to drive his fangs into” as soon as Judy reached for the dial on the medical device, she heard a pop sound. Stepping back with a questioning glance, she watched as the fox’s jaw dislocated and further dialed open; now several times wider than it had been before.  With just by-eye measurements, she was sure he’d now easily able to tilt his fangs down to the dummy on the wheeled bed.

Pressing the automatic record button on her lab coat for the room’s recording apparatus, she motioned for the two agents to step away.  “Now if you would Mr. Wilde” she intoned.

At hearing her request, he forcefully clamped his maw into the gurney, crushing the strong medical device with ease, though it still held enough for his mouth to not fully close.  His large fangs pressed completely through the dummy, the plastic, and one had broken through the jar and was dribbling venom onto the gurney’s bottom tray.  Judy watched with bated breath, noting how it quickly corroded the metal and burned through the fibrous parts of the gurney with ease.  Sighing in resignation as his other fang ate through the it’s collection jar, dropping it through to match the other side.  The lapine turned away to find the H.O.O.D system’s controls as the fumes began to build up and the sound of crunching steel hit her sensitive ears once more.

Judy quickly turned back to the fox as she pulled her phone back out, “Hey, Hopps here. Yes Sir… yes, I assure you everything is fine.” a smarmy smile crossed her features, “ _ if _ you want, you can come and visit him first hand to see how safe he is… no?... that’s okay” Now Nick was looking directly at her; both halves of the melted gurney now out of his mouth, “We’re going to need a construction crew to build a bite apparatus”

Nick could barely make out the other voice, “how much would that cost?”

Judy groaned, “It’s less expensive than the lives at risk,” she paused,” I mean, it’s that or you risk mammals when we stand in his mouth to attempt stopping his jaw from closing fully to coax toxin out for testing”  She really disliked the red tape, showing her distaste by throwing her coat down onto the table behind her.=

“Is there any other way?”

She was quick to placate, “Perhaps, but I am more interested in safety.  And safety procedures for this type of collection dictate a bite rest to assist.  It’s worth it in safety and in efficacy.” a smile came across her face, “Thanks boss, I’ll have results from toxicology and bloodwork by the day’s end”

Judy smiled when the call ended; turning to the afflicted fox, “Now that this test is over, we’re going outside.” her smile only widened when the second eyelid covering his blazing emeralds shifted aside in a jolt of shock and a long intake of breath.


	9. He Never Died: 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My first actual request in the form of a prompt, Gunslinger99 asked for this crossover between a movie (2015) called "He Never Died" where the main character is the biblical figure know as Cain; who is known as the first murderer, the killer of his brother Abel. Here, I've taken a couple liberties with adhering it to the characters of Zootopia in an effort to mix the two. Unfortunately, I feel as though I may not have done Cain justice in the form he's provided through the movie, but nonetheless, I hope you all enjoy this piece of literature and if you've got questions, concerns, or prompts of your own please feel free to ask away in the comment section.

* * *

**_“you are cursed and driven from this land, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. You will be a restless wanderer upon the earth.”_ ** **_Nick, Winshar Diner_ **

* * *

 

“S’cuse me?” came a new voice, jerking him roughly from memory

“Y’sure ya donne want nothin’ hon?” came the slow drawl of the waitress’s normally chipper attitude prompting the fox to look upwards and meet eyes.

“Long day April?” he asked, seeing through her poor facade easily. 

At his prodding, she deflated, “Yeh, been eh long week, tryn’ te’save sum money fer me mum” his judging glare softened, “She… she’s mighty sick m’afraid” finished the doe

“That’s awfully bad luck” he answered, rising from his chair, “Give her my best well-wishes, but I’ve got to get going if I’m to be home tonight” he proffered, side-stepping away from the alluring doe and towards the exit.

The fresh air whipped past his tired muzzle, an errant glance upwards revealed the poor attempt at concealing the oncoming storm and prompted him to quickly set off down the old road.  As the diner disappeared behind him, Nick continued to walk at his languid pace; paws clenching into fists as his mind ran rampant behind his weathered eyes.

 

* * *

**_“he said to the lord ‘My punishment is more than I can bear.  I will be hidden from your presence; I am to be a restless wanderer on this earth, whoever finds me will kill me.’”_ **

* * *

 

His lapse of judgement left him momentarily vulnerable as twin stars burned away the darkness behind him; an unseen impact contorting his body into a horrid, broken shape as he skidded across the asphalt before rolling to a bloody stop.  **BOOM!** A crack of thunder ripped through the air, setting a tempo for the oncoming downpour. The fox’s ears twitched at the sound of a heavy door popping open, “Oh shit, no! NO! NO NO NO!” cried another creature, the sounds of it’s languish coming closer and closer.

Nick had already begun to crawl away with the his final working limb when he heard a door open, he had hoped this other mammal would have left; it had been a wishful thought as the sound of heavy boots mixed with the rough downpour.

“Oh shit” Nick’s torn ears burned with the heavy rain, “I fucking killed someone! FUCK!” he could tell the mammal was crying; his chest burned where the fur had scraped off, his skull ached where his pelt had been skinned off somewhere along the road, his legs were completely numb to anything as a slight pressure on his slide flipped his gaze from the ground up to the sky to see a blurry grey figure standing over him, a paw over its muzzle.  A long sigh slipped from the broken fox’s muzzle as his struggling slowed, tearing another gasp from the now soaked wolf.

 

* * *

**_“The Lord said to him, ‘Not so_ ** **_;_ ** **_anyone who kills Cain will suffer his burden seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him”_ **

* * *

 

The moment it’s back turned,  Nick surged up from the ground; jaws mere inches from snapping closed on a vital artery. “H-ey man! Screeched the figure as they fell, “I’m sorry, please no! NOO!”

Nick’s maw found purchase on the vulnerable flesh below the creature’s jaw, tearing a sizable chunk of his throat out; exposing the bone of his spine, only a few gurgles leaving the wolf’s ruined neck as fountains of blood poured free.  Now completely lost, Nick relished in the blood and the flesh; partaking in both fervently as his once clean coat bled deeper into the crimson he had long since earned.  The sinful pleasure of the act brought out his baser nature, splashing more of the blood onto himself as he drank deeply of it.  

Well behind him, off to the side, stood a black clothed figure.  His trench coat keeping the elements at bay, shaking his head disappointingly at the barbaric display taking place in the center of the road. “ **_Poor Bastard_ ** ” his words were swallowed by the thunder and lighting as he stepped backwards into the forest, disappearing with the next flash of lightning.

* * *

 

**_Judy, Marshend Outskirts_ **

The rain had kicked up almost an hour ago, it had been her momentary opportunity to slip into the woods without them being able to track her scent.  She laughed bitterly, some of the skills he had practiced in hopes she would be accepted into the police academy were paying off; she had remembered to tense her muscles so her bindings wouldn’t have been tight enough, she had also made use of the rain to mask her scent when she bolted from their little ‘ _ swarray’ _ .

The sounds of heavier paws crunching through the underbrush that seemed to always stay at the edge of her hearing herded her deeper and deeper into the swamp. She’d been running so long that she’d even lost the meager knowledge of her surroundings, the road was as good as lost and there was no way she was heading back towards civilization; that idea had long since cemented in her hindbrain.

“Over there!” came a call out from her aft, spurring her into motion once more.

She continued to run, now able to hear multiple sets of legs sprinting through the sodden clearing. Praying had done her no good, hoping had done her no good, and running was just about to run out.  The slightly bloody lapine’s body jarred as her feet impacted solid ground for the first time in what must have been hours.

“Fuck it” she gasped, sprinting down the ancient stone path; many of its cobbles long since sunken into the spongy earth. “YES!” she cried, a wooden building coming into view over the edge of another clearing. While the building had clearly not been well maintained, she could see that it still appeared as though someone had or did still reside in it. Especially if the candle in the window was something to go off of.

A mix of twisting the antique handle and her weight was more than enough to launch her inside, Judy made haste in closing the door; already looking around for something to brace it with.  Upon finding nothing she could easily use, the small rabbit quickly sprung open the door to a nearby armoire and pressed herself in, shifting the clothes out of her way to close the door before she pulled the strangely fresh smelling clothes back over her shivering form.

“Hey you!” she heard from outside, ‘ _ What?’ _ she thought to herself, a wide beam of light indicating a small hole in the woodwork; allowing a blazing violet eye to peek through it and the window that it had been positioned before.  There was a lean looking fox walking up to the small crowd that had assembled at the house.  “What are you doing here fucker!” came another yell from the ensemble of mobsters.

“This is my house” he responded, seeming unperturbed by the abundance of firearms and the abhorrent care involved in how they were being waved around.  When one was pointed at him, she could see the vulpes recoil, “Look buddy, I don’t want to cause any trouble. This _is_ **my** house” he insisted.

A shot rang out, causing the rabbit to flinch inside the cabinet.  Judy buried herself further under the clothes, obscuring her own vision through the peephole.  Two more shots pealed out in the din along with enough screaming to ensure the lapine that there must have been another mammal with the fox. ‘ _ Oh my god’ _ she whimpered to herself, ‘ _ I just got someone killed!’ _ she pressed a paw to her mouth to quiet her sobs, finding it harder and harder to quell them as her mind bounced through the possibilities. ‘ _ What if that was his wife!? Or kit!?!?’ _ she continued to berate herself for what must have been her fault.

“If only I’d just forgotten about all this” she panted, slipping back out of the woodwork and towards the door, “I should have listened to my parents…” tears streamed down her face in long rivulets, pulling away some of the caked on blood from when they’d attempted to “convince” her to pay them money she didn’t have.

Her shaky paw reached for the knob just in time for it to sling open, revealing a very bloody fox.  A little chirp left her tiny maw in surprise as she was brusquely thrown aside when the dripping fox slammed the door and walked over to a small makeshift kitchen; rummaging through one drawer after another.

“Sir, I-I’m sorry fo-for any inco-” she began

“Shut up” his cut-in was angry with an oddly sullen inflection.  The mammal that had saved her didn’t turn around, instead it brandished a small pair of tongs in the dim candle-light before he plunged it into his chest with a sound that made the lapine’s knees wobble and her stomach sumersault. A second later, something tore free from it’s chest with an equally disturbing sound and was promptly set on the counter with a dense click.

She stared at the male fox, dripping in enough blood to convince her of more than a triple homicide. “Si-” she began once more.

Nick shook with a hungering rage, this little  **_morsel_ ** had so ignorantly walked herself into his home; leading a band of wannabe fuckups to screw his day over after he’d already had a run in with the darker side of life. He rubbed a still-sore spot on his shoulder from the large truck, “W-hat do you want?” he growled out, barely able to form words.

At his demand, she drew a hesitant breath, “t-they were going to kill me” she sobbed out, “I-I borrowed money for school, a-and I coul-dn’t pa-hay them back” tears were still streaking down her face as she looked up at the canid that had at some point come to an almost uncomfortable distance; several long strands of saliva dripping from his pearly whites.  She looked up, meeting eyes for a moment, long enough to watch him blink; seeing a flash of red and a strange shape when they re-opened for a brief moment before she started to step back towards the door.

“I don’t want your life story” Nick choked out, forcing his hunger down for the first time. “I don’t want anything” he added gruffly, “Just. Get. Out” each word gained in strength until he was speaking at a normal volume, ushering her through the door and slamming it behind her.

Judy needed no second invitation,  quickly making haste off the porch and through the yard; passing several, very mutilated bodies on her way to the road. “Please be the right way” she muttered, for the first time looking up; seeing a sudden appearance of a single lone telephone-line lazily flowing away from the now very uninviting building.

* * *

****

**_Judy, Winshar Diner -  Marshend Outskirts_ **

The panting lapine struggled her way into the diner, weakly shoving the door open as she fell into a panting mess on the floor.  A couple of patrons quickly rushing over to her, a chorus of “are you okay?” and other such calls quickly sharpened her attentions.  Judy almost started to warn them about the mobsters when she found herself lifted from the floor, a small group of blue and white clad mammals had appeared.  Putting her onto a stretcher and wheeling her out to an ambulance that she swore had never been called.  A long figure sitting in the vehicle’s rear bringing her fears to light.

“Hello Miss Hopps” the bear sounded nothing but furious, “I do believe we have some business to attend to” his final word accompanied by the slamming of the bay door and a large bag that swallowed her entire body in a cocoon of darkness.


	10. He Never Died: 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final half of the "He Never Died" prompt where Nick is the cursed murderer Cain going on a lovely and murderous rampage to either right a wrong or to spill more blood. Perhaps justified murder tastes better?
> 
> And again, Thanks to Gunslinger99 for the prompt.

**_Two Days Later, Winshar Diner, Nick_ **

The fox propped his head up on his paws as he watched the lazy and often far-between car passing by the small diner, it’s placement along the sparsely populated road had certainly done it well over the thirty or so years the building had been in use. His gaze flitted back from the window and into the nearly empty building, a couple bleeding corpses already laying on the ground in a small heap.

“Fucker!” yelled one of the black clad mammals, Nick eyed the dead with a hint of curiosity and a well-hidden hunger. His careless and gruff facade permeated his very being, looking up from the bodies to see his usual waitress attempting and failing to pour a cup of coffee with her shaking hands.

“Cara, please sit” he prompted, gently pulling her towards the booth. “Please, relax, you’re going to be _Juust_ **fine**.” a smile cracked his maw as he regarded her fearful expression. When she relaxed a small bit into her chair, he leaned back, “I’m going to use the restroom,” turning to the other mammals in the establishment, only moments after he disappeared into the back. Cara, the doe, bit her lip as a burly tiger stepped up a couple moments after the fox and followed him through the door. Nick had nearly finished zipping up his pants when a sharp pain surged in his back. Turning, he came face to face with the feline, a furred fist slammed into his muzzle in response.

Cara’s ears splayed at the sound of broken glass from the bathroom, a shocked expression on her face when the fox re-emerged from the swinging door with his normal, confident gait. The moment she stood, her eyes met with a large handle sticking fully out of the mammal’s back, it’s hilt pinning his coat and shirt down to his back where a hefty drip had already bled through the clothing. “Ohmygod!” she sputtered, attempting to touch the handle but falling short each time. As soon as he’d pushed her back down into her chair, Nick reached behind him, spinning briefly before he could manage to catch the handle in paw and tugged until it tore free.  “An ice pick” he offered, putting the bloody instrument back onto the table.

A tap on the shoulder brought his attention over to another mammal, a younger fox, eerily reminiscent of himself at a much younger age. His eyes were blinded for a half-second as a loud boom sounded out, his skull rung for a moment and the burned in image of the muzzle flash stayed fresh in his eyes for a second or so he sprung up to his feet; blood pouring through a large hole in his skull; driving the whole world into a sanguine frenzy.

* * *

**_Nick, Traveling By “borrowed” Car_ **

 

“You want some?” Nick asked, seeing through the rear-view mirror that the mammal in the back of the car could see him; especially the delicious look on his face when he brought the bone back to his muzzle for another decadent chunk of flesh. The fox smiled crazidly as his passenger puked out the window for what must have been the third or fourth time, “You ready to tell me what you want yet?”

“You’re fucking crazy!” yelled the wolf, “Goddamn fucking insane! A MONSTER!” his screaming was getting annoying.

Nick slammed the brake down, slinging the backseat-ed mammal into the passenger chairback, “Look buddy, I’m for the second time in my life thinking about not killing someone. Please don’t give me a reason to ignore the first reasonable voice in my head”

With that, the creature behind him firmly shut his mouth; leaning back out to puke once more. *Caugh* “Fine” it was clear that the mammal was valuing his own safety higher, “They’re at a club in the warehouse district” Nick reached back with his right paw, sinking it deep into an open wound on the canid’s shoulder; smiling as the wolf screamed out in pain.

“Name?” he demanded, clearly in no mood for games.

Panting, “Koz-lov’s Palace!” he squealed, “Dmitri Kozlov owns it” drawing harsh breaths through clenched teeth

A moment of shock nearly surfaced through Nick’s carefree expression, “Did you say Kozlov?”

“Fuck!~” he gasped, “Yes! YES YES! I SAID KOZLOV!” the pained creature gasped between screams.

“Good” Nick smirked, kicking the useless and broken mammal out of the car. “I hope you like walking” as the window rolled up, Nick rolled his shoulders and reached for another chunk of flesh. He continued to drive listlessly, stopping once for gas at an ancient station; thankful that it was a self-service, no need for more bodies. The fox paid and continued on his way until a loud ring sprung up under the seat behind him, “Hello?” he asked, having pawed around blindly for it for only a moment.

“IsweartogodI’llfuckingkillyouifyoudon’t-” Nick hung up, tossing the phone onto the bloody passenger seat with little care; such threats were empty, doubly so if over the phone or not in person.

Moments later, the flip-phone sprung to life again; the same number ringing loudly in the small car. “Hello” he answered, voice carrying his anger.

“Look here man! Are you fucking insane! I’ll kill you, you bastard!” Nick sighed.

“Did you send people to attack me?” he asked, not wanting to participate in any foolishness.

“I’ll shoot you with like eight guns you bastard!” came the voice again.

“I’ll hang up!” Threatened the fox, when nothing came back through the receiver he continued again. “Did you attack the diner?”

“Tell me where my brother is first!” replied the voice, “Then we can talk”

“Is he a wolf?” Nick asked, “A grey wolf with green eyes?” continuing as the mental picture came into focus. At the affirmative, he laughed for a second, “I left him at mile marker one on Route Sixty Six” his chuckle persisted, “He’s walking, mostly fine too, now… Did you attack the diner!?”

“We were paid to fuck you up!” he answered angrily, “They didn’t tell us you were a killer!” before Nick could start up the voice continued, “How about that rabbit?  She a crazy killer too!?” the voice sounded genuinely scared.

“Rabbit?” asked the russet vulpes, “What rabbit?”

“The one they said you were cavorting with! She spent time with you or something!”  Nick groaned, slamming the phone shut and hurling it through the window with an anger he’d wished to have left behind. “ _That Fucking! Rabbit!”_ he thought to himself, throwing the car into a higher gear, all but racing down the highway towards the field of warehouses.

* * *

**_Warehouse District, Kozlov’s Palace_ **

 

Nick stepped up to the steel door with a casual and almost predatory stalk, knocking briefly. “Nicky! How’s it been?!” the polar bear on the other side smiled, “What, it’s been like ten years right?”

Groaning, Nick smiled; bloody teeth and all, “yeah Kevin, ‘bout ten years” Nick didn’t intend for it, the massive bear noted the blood and continued looking down.

“Is that an arm?” he said, looking through the steel door to the torn arm held in Nick’s off paw.

“Uh” replied the fox, realizing that the mammal was clearly not intent on opening the door; Nick snapped his paw in, snagging the tie of the bear and pulling it as hard as possible; hearing the larger mammal impact the door. Only a half moment later, the telltale snap of a neck gave the signal that the guard would be no more trouble. A deft paw reached in and popped the lock to the side and swung it open, allowing the massive ursine to roll out of the hallway and into the crisp night air.

With the guard dead, Nick padded into the establishment, seeing that it was nearly empty he simply continued towards the office; stopping when the bartender grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.

 

“You fucking bastard!” yelled the shotgun-toting bartender

Another two figures stepped up from behind, “What’re you doin’ pointin’ guns at random people!” they shared.

“He’s the one that killed James!” anger pervading his features, finger squeezing down on the trigger; sending heavy buckshot into the fox. When Nick didn’t move, he stared in shock, the other two looked around for where the shot went.

“What’d you shoot!” the one on the left asked.

Nick looked between the three with disinterest before turning to the few onlookers, “You’d better all leave” he threatened, prompting the final two patrons to take their drinks and hightail it out.

Before the bartender could aim again, Nick grabbed his wrist and tore it to the side; causing the shot to go wide and strike the furthest mammal in the face, sending a large and chunky spray all over the wall.  The remaining mammal, a wolf, leapt up with a knife; stabbing into his back while he wrestled the gun from the bartender, using his elbow to break the muzzle of the wolf behind him and proceeding to smash in the bartenders feline face. Nick reared back from the ground, covered in blood and guts from the two mammals already slain; the moment the blood cleared from his vision he sprung back into action, leaping towards the final one. The comforting sound of crushing bones and weak gasps coming from his body as he stepped away were far more than he could have hoped for when he stepped up to the office door.

When Nick stepped through, bloody and dripping the remains of the two bouncers and the bartender, “Kozlov” he greeted.

“Nicky” he answered, looking across the desk at the ursine, “whaddya need?”

The fox looked upwards at the cub’s owner with an air of supreme distaste, “Where” he asked, standing stock still with his eyes locked to the mobster.

“Hmm? What could you possibly mean?” he responded, leaning back to kick his legs upwards onto the desk. “I see you’ve met my bouncers” his massive head nodded towards the fox’s dripping attire and shot-riddled chest.

“The assholes” Nick replied coolly, “Yes, we just met” the fox paused for a moment. “Why did you attack the diner?” blandly ignoring the bear’s calm facade.

Kozlov dropped his legs down and leveled an icy stare, “I had a score to settle” his answer felt meaningless, “Call it an interpersonal conflict” waving his paw around to accentuate his words, “I had an understanding that I felt needed challenging”

Nick took his words with the grains of salt they were worth, stepping up to the ursine’s desk, “Where is she?”

“Who?” the bear responded, his crazed and burning anger starting to burn through his calm facade, when the fox failed to react to the change in his demeanor, “Oh, that one” a horrible smirk crossing his toothy muzzle.

Nick grabbed the bear by his shirt-collar, bringing him forcefully down to his height, “Where the **fu** -” stopping as his sensitive ears perked to the sound of someone whimpering, he turned to the wall where the sound originated; seeing an unfamiliar bookcase.  “You’ve redecorated” Nick smiled, throwing the bear backwards against the wall, “Stay” the low growl was enough to pin the creature in place as he stepped over to the case.

The moment Nick reached for the shelf, he heard the heavy footsteps of the larger occupant attempting an escape. The fox flew across the room in a blur of red and anger as he crashed into the heavy mammal with a dull thud, throwing them both against the adjacent wall.  “Ah fuck, I remember, you’re strong **_and_ ** fast”

“Yes” Nick replied blandly, punching the large mammal in the chest; waiting until he doubled over and put his other paw right back into his adjacent kidney with enough force to level the angry creature.  “ **_STAY_ ** ” he demanded once more, the only response being a weak whimper. Before he could think better of it, Nick reached over to grab the bear’s leg; using the massive foot as a winch to force his foot into a clearly wrong position, smiling cruelly at the slow popping of the joint until it cracked with a sharp pop.

Nick stepped over the bear’s supine form and over to the shelf; which promptly found itself flattened to the floor, revealing a hidden door behind, a grunt later left the heavy door pushed inwards where it came to rest. With a cautious eye, Nick addressed the clearly beaten lapine figure strapped into the small chair. Nick grumbled briefly as he stepped over to the female, “Can you walk?” she didn’t immediately respond, instead seeming to merely struggle for a second and fall dormant once more. Nick reached behind her to snap the cuffs apart before he turned back towards the mafioso still attempting to crawl away.

Nick stepped up to the creature; already starting to stand back up, “shit, I didn’t get anywhere!” Kozlov bemoaned, Nick smiled at his plight- grabbing his collar once more before putting every ounce of his strength into kicking the still rising polar bear in the back, sending him careening down the stairs and back into the dance room.

Nick grabbed Kozlov’s head, placing it onto a nearby pool table, “Were you going to kill her?”

“How-” he gasped, “How would you know?” smiled the bear

“You’d tell me that you weren’t going to” Nick waited for the bear to look over to him before he jumped up; grabbing the light fixture from above the table and bringing it crashing back down onto the ursine. The fox furthered to kick him back off the table and drag him over to the bar.  It took the cursed fox a moment of effort; but he managed to pull Kozlov’s massive head up onto it with some assistance from several well-placed stools.

Nick pressed his muzzle to the table next to the bear, “Hi” he smirked.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!?” he sputtered under the pressure.

“I could ask you the same… why’d you kidnap the rabbit?”

“We-heh, I needed a way to get back at you” the pitiful creature sputtered for a moment, “And as you can see, bullets- rrgh, don’t have the same affect on you!”

“So you attacked the rabbit hoping you could get to me through her?” he offered, putting the pieces together for the slowly dying creature.

“DING! DING! DI- OW!” crowed Kozlov, “are you fucking insane or just stupid!?” threatened the mammal.

Nick pressed down onto the polar bear’s skull with enough force that he could easily hear the sound of his skull crushing into the tough bar-top. “I want you to know that I will kill you… then I will eat you” he paused, hoping his words would sink in, “No, I mean literally eat you; piece by fucking piece until you are all goddamn gone!” Nick smiled a mouthful of razors, “I’m not fucking insane, or at least no more than you would be if you needed to eat other people” he smiled, “I dunno why it is, but that’s how it’s always been for me and I’m sure that’s how it will always stay- for me at least” Just as he leaned in to plant a personal bite into the white-furred neck, a wash of black fabric in the corner of his vision brought his attention over to the side.

“YOU!” he screamed, forgetting about Kozlov for the bearest moments, “WHY ARE YOU FUCKING HERE!” his anger pervaded his entire being.  “FUCKING LOOK AT ME YOU FUCKING PIG!” when the figure didn’t his rage bloomed.

“I’VE KILLED **KITS** , **MOTHERS** **AND** **GODDAMN** FATHERS FOR _**LESS**_ THAN EVEN A DAY’S WORTH OF WHAT HE’S DONE!” his rage caused his vision to shake, “YOU WEREN’T THERE FOR THEM!?!? WHY HIM? WHY NOW?!?” when the figure failed to even address him, merely leaning forward to press a tan furred paw over a flaming cup of liquor. Nick lost it, turning to Kozlov once more; the moment he reached back out to the ursine, a weak voice called out to him.

“H-elp~” the sound was weak and it barely carried through the roaring rage in his blood, but the sound of the voice’s owner struggling into the room hit louder than cannonfire. The moment he almost turned to the mobster once more, she slipped, starting to fall; he reacted instantly and without a single thought. Throwing himself before her, landing with a light skitter from his paws as he reached underneath her and supported her weakened frame, he turned to Kozlov once more “I’ll fucking kill you I swear!” he turned back to the rabbit, addressing her wounds for the first time; she needed medical attention and she needed it desperately, Nick turned to the cloaked mammal; large twin ears poking from it’s head as it continued to look forward, “This isn’t over!” yelled the red fox, “One fucking day~” he continued, already starting to carry the rabbit towards the rear exit.

The moment he left the building, Kozlov started to laugh; flopping over so he could look upwards, a sudden touch on his shoulder brought his eyes to look down; seeing a small, diminutive fennec with large tan ears.

**_“Hello”_ **


	11. Infestation Growing: 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After playing about enough hours, I've found myself dredging up some creative juices to get this out of my hoard of backlogged items. For anyone here who might play the game and have issue at about the half-way mark when I mention the Overseer having zerglings to drop... oops, it felt correct in writing and who's to say that some crazy nonsense didn't happen in a totally different universe. Other than that, I hope you all enjoy!
> 
> \-- leroi

“God damnit!” roared a usually smooth voice; drawn harsh by an embattled position, “I asked for that damn strike nearly three minutes ago! Where is it!” sounds of gunfire and an oddly calming staccato rhythm of Nick’s Psi-lash ebbing through the receiver. A small-statured figure crunched herself smaller into her seat as the crashing booms began to die out, their sources falling one by one as they were slowly overrun. “Fucking hell! Command! I ordered an orbital strike to my position! If you want us to keep any chip of dignity you blast this nest to dust NOW!” Judy drew her blanket tighter around herself, the armor provided for the marines was tough enough to stop most impacts, slashes and acid burns; but they failed quickly under continued assault. All ghost operatives were donned in specialized exposure suits, each focused more towards movement and stealth over all else. 

The feed grew silent for a couple minutes before the static mix grew completely quiet aside from the threatening pulse of manifested psi-energy. “C-command, this is Dutchman Captain Wilde” she could hear the pained gasps sourced from desperation and exhaust as he radioed back in, “Crimson company is wiped, Dutchman is down and my squad is dead, the Zerg infested them… then I had to kill them” listening to it never got easier, “Please, send this place to hell” the desperation was gone, the fox sounded resigned now. One last roared war cry was the last thing that parsed the speakers before several explosions sent it into darkness.

“Professor, recording has terminated” the AI stated in a crisp and clean manner, “Would you like to repeat?”

With light shining back into the previously darkened room, she sighed, dropping the blanket by the wayside in favor of a piping hot coffee from her lab production unit. “Dawn, anything good on the docket?” she asked, avoiding her question and dropping a monitor down so she could speak to her lab AI face to screen.

“Absolutely Professor, checking now” her visage momentarily obscured by a short list of to-do’s popping up, a singular blinking red one catching her interest. 

“Important notice?” she asked, “I thought we were being dissuaded from government work… fuck, it better not be the Protoss again” her forceful tone was punctuated by quick draughts from her liquid ambrosia. “Who is it signed in from?”

“From Emperor Leodore and General Southpaw, Ma’am it appears as though it is tied to a video contact.”

Judy pressed a matted paw into her face, “Well, go on, call it” her minor irritation tied closer to the date rather than a dislike for the work involved. The lapine quickly took a second to run a paw in a nearby sink and run it through her fur; ensuring she looked at least somewhat presentable rather than intensely disheveled.

The stocky muzzle of the new Emperor quickly came into focus along with the General standing to his side, “Ah, Hopps, I see our newfound stability has been treating your work well.” she could see his eyes cataloguing all of her visible equipment, “What do you need now Leodore” her intrigue almost matched her distaste for the lion and his now deceased predecessor. 

“I’m sure you remember Alpha squad’s mission, about four years ago” he paused when Judy’s face turned an off grey due to the anger boiling in her veins, he quickly amended, “We’ve finally reactivated the sensor array in the wastes” the lion paused, “Nicholas’s strike beacon pinged the southernmost tower the instant it came online… and we’ve recovered a rather unsettling recording from a banshee pass through the area”

“Oh?” her anger dissipated faster than she thought possible, “What have you found!?” adrenalin pumped through her veins at news of her fox.

At her prodding, Southpaw moved closer, “You’ll want to watch the flight footage first, we’ve got a liberator escort coming to retrieve you now, get your kit together… we’re on a hunt”

* * *

**_Red Squadron: Deep Recon_ **

 

“This is four zero niner, Red Squad making the rounds” the masked figure flicked several switches and pressed a button, forcing the recording to shift to the aft-underbelly camera; splaying a long view of a burnt-out countryside as they soared closer and closer to the Swarm’s initial landing zones at Korhol.

Her violet eyes raked through the recording as the landscape blew past the assault-craft. “Operator, we’ve got a 10-18A on zone three, looks like a Marine squad” Judy’s thoughts caught in her throat as the camera panned over to show the three Banshee’s hovering just twenty or so feet from the surface; just above the assembled marines. To anyone else’s eyes, the lone squad would have looked suspicious at worst and favorable at best, Judy knew better. Each of them were scrawled with the caustic green and nuclear red of the Flying Dutchman, “ _ Nick’s squad?” _ she wondered, an oddity quickly becoming a nightmare.

“Markings… running chips through database~” the pilot’s data link showed his queerie on the armor before he boosted his speakers, “Hey! Marines of the Flying Dutchman! Are you in need of support?” when his words were met with naught but silence and movement only from the ship’s rotors, he turned his scanners downwards, “Red Squad, These are empty suits back of~” the camera spun briefly before the connected craft hurtled to the ground.

Judy watched as the first two quickly had holes punched through them, each time large orange shards smashed through the strong armor and into the cockpit; bathing each camera with blood and bone before they crashed to the ground. The final Banshee pilot was much faster, spinning up his reactor to cloak up and pull away with his boosters before an unseen force halted its movement. The professor gasped as the ship’s computer portrayed the damage to the craft; watching as the wings and aft crush inwards as if nothing more than a cheap can. Her attention quickly shifted back to the camera footage in time to hear the pilot scream as a blurred figure snap past the viewfinder.

Judy paused the feed, “Dawn, zoom and enhance. Please bring that face back into view”

“Absolutely, executing commands”

The film rewound several frames until the off-orange blur clipped back into frame, the enhancement brought her heart up to join her thoughts caught in her throat. “Southpaw, get those liberators here faster, I’m suiting up”

* * *

**_Monroe Sector: Infestation Level - Low_ **

 

With potential threats from the air still largely possible from infested structures and hold-out Zerg, the liberators turned back; backing up with a small force of construction units and a group of Vikings to protect them after they laid out their siege zones. “All good sir, ready to deploy” the transport dropped off the small grouping of soldiers, Judy felt the dried out crunch of remnant creep under her mechanized armor. 

“Where are we going Southpaw?” she asked, eager to get moving and be out of such an open area.

“The above ground entrance to the network is one kilometer due north of here” responded the commanding officer as he racked his rifle, the small squad of marines pushed up with him, forcing the lapine to rush to catch up with them.

Judy continued to watch around, the jarheads had been rushing the whole way; slowing down at corners and being tactically safe aside from the lack of any rear-watch. Seeing this, the professor kept her vision anchored to the ground they already passed rather than that which sprawled before them. “How many missions have you run doc?” came a voice over her intercom, likely one of the marines.

“Enough to have met the Queen of Blades, the Tal’Darim highlord and What’s-his-ass… the Protoss Hierarch” she answered, not allowing even a hint of emotion to bleed through her voice; at this, the comms went quiet quickly.

Upon reaching the abandoned subway tunnel, Judy found herself suffering an itch; not a physical one, but one that forced her to turn all the same, causing her gaze to rake through the remnants of an old shop. As the ruined brick facade filled her vision, the large half-burned cone standing on the roof hinted to what the structure had been in a previous life. “Hmm” she grumbled, the feeling had dissipated, leaving her with a pang of regret- as if it held some importance. The lapine felt her gaze go fuzzy for a moment as a figure appeared in the rubble, a russet furred mammal buried under rubble; desperately trying to shift it away. “NICK!” she screamed, sprinting over to the shop; missing the large flying Overseer hanging just above a missing chunk of ceiling. It turned several of its many eyes down to the creature sprinting to it’s watch-zone. While Judy was busy trying to shift the pile of rubble, her focus on the struggling figure broke on the sound of something wet and slimy slamming into the ground behind her. A quick look behind her provided nothing but a view of the rest of the squad nearly at her position, her blood turned to ice when she looked back down at the remnants of the rubble; a half-crushed skull grinning at her from it’s now lost prison. Husking in defeat, she allowed the rock to fall back down, and stepped backwards out of the store in horror. “Fucking hell” before the others could react she yelled again, “There’s an overseer here somewhere! Kill it, we don’t need unwanted eyes!” her oversized railgun spinning up. The overseer readied to drop it’s hold of zerglings, a drop sure to allow for escape, but was drawn back as a pair of glowing emerald pools opened. Sensing the will of its swarm-host, it hugged low to the building and made a hasty retreat out of sight of the other marines. 

As the entire squad looked around for the missing overseer, the changeling dropped by the overseer shifted and snapped into formation with the other marines; looking completely at home in the group of armed soldiers. When they failed to find the additional unit, they backed off from the shop and back towards the subway entrance. The changeling marine staying at the formation’s aft, watching vigilantly to their every move.

* * *

**_Subway, Green Line: Infestation Level - Unknown_ **

 

They had traveled for easily another kilometer underground in the abandoned construction before coming across the remnants of what looked to be a protoss forward base, or what had been one. shattered pylons and exploded gateways lay strewn across the ruins, a quick look gave Judy no qualms in believing this had been a last stand; large swaths of wall and floor were missing in concentric patterns indicating Archons had been formed and consequently destroyed.

Southpaw found himself staring at the remnants of what had been a flourishing mineral mine, a couple vents of vespene gas still capped off by broken structures took his attention; “They can’t have been gone very long” he assumed much, the terrans never figured how to figure ages for the Protoss; and figuring out how long a body was dead when it seemed to fight decay even after dying lead to several medical impossibilities in such things. “These structures are still warm~” he monotoned as he attempted, and failed, to lift a shard.

“Whoever came through here was very thorough, and was disinterested in the minerals” Judy piped in, “They left nothing to chance, each of the probes looks like they've been chewed up and spat out before getting torched”

“ **_DIIIIIEEEE_ ** ”

The sudden scream broke the veil of silence, “Quick, keep moving, it sounds like they are still alive!” commanded Southpaw, jarring the entire squad into furious motion. Judy found herself matching pace with the large wolf, her specially mechanized armor granting her ease for movement even without the need for a stimpack.

Upon reaching the corner, the small group of armed terrans were treated to a battle scarred landing sporting a small group of Protoss acolytes fighting shoulder to shoulder with what appeared to be an Executor. The marines quickly engaged the Zerglings surrounding the small war-party, each cringing as the sound of banelings detonating into shields. With the backing of the terran infantry behind them, it nearly seemed as though they would survive, Judy grimaced, the energy signals were the same as the last pylon grouping. “ _ What are they doing down here? With an Executor of all things?” _ her scowl deepened when a hazy wub started to reverberate in her speakers… “Get back!” boomed Southpaw, corralling his troops behind a small semblance of cover as they continued to fire.

The executor did not hear the sound, choosing to push forward into the mob of creatures with abandon, doing her level best to burn away as much of the infestation as possible. The instant she attempted to summon a gateway to phase them to a safer position, a titanic howl breached the air, an ultralisk tearing free of the ground; the rhino-esque creature had burrowed from somewhere, sprinting directly into one-on-one with the executor in a bid to interfere with the gateway summon.

“Southpaw!” yelled Judy, “There must be something guiding them, they are reacting and working with tactic rather than force!” with her energy full, she used her on-board fabricator to generate a fragmentation grenade. A quick tug left the pin spinning through the air and the device soaring towards the massive zerg. It caught the detonation in the skull, sending most of the fragments through the large orbital sockets and the titanic quadrupedal body crashing to the ground. As the acolytes pushed forward, charging at the smaller and now targetable zerglings, quickly finding that they were all retreating back up the walls and deeper into the room. 

The squad watched intently as the large Protoss guardian turned her mouthless face towards them and spoke, “My thanks to you, Judith Hopps… and to your men” as she surveyed the damage what remained of her deployment. “I must apologize, but we are yet needed elsewhere. There is nothing in this place but death, and we are not welcome” With the rather cryptic reply, she once more began to re-summon the gateway portal.

Professor Hopps had just turned to face the general and the still full squad of marines, seeing the seventh one standing rather out of place in the rear; his gun unracked, but almost glued to his paws. Before she could voice concern, an orange bolt of lightning burst up through the center of the floor.

“ **_Gah!_ ** ” 

* * *

**_Nick_ **

 

He watched through the eyes of the Ultralisk, thanking the Rhino for his sacrifice before it fell to the unassimilated creatures. He had been through enough similar engagements enough to know to pull back his forces from their current predicament; especially if the Executor remained alive, but this could be easily remedied. He padded from his makeshift den within the security station of the landing and walked down the corrupted hallways, his claws making a satisfying click wherever the creep wasn’t thick enough to pad the tiles from his sharpened edges. It was strange, after his transformation some of of the Zerg still reacted negatively to him; that is, only if one counts the mothers and a several of the strong-willed infected. In the odd occasion Nick managed to pull complete control over a zergling, he garnered a very decent picture of what he looked like; each time reminding him… “ **_Abathur_ ** ” the name felt like poison on his tongue and rotten flesh in his gut.

The once-fox used the changeling to survey the secondary group of individuals assaulting his nest. “ _ Only six marines… no combat shields” _ he paused to turn it to see the others, “ _ A general?... and…”  _ a quick sniff later, “ _ a rabbit medic” _ . With the emperor’s royal signets emblazoned on most of the soldiers and the general, he assumed it would be on the pale suited rabbit as well. At the thought of Arcturis, bile came up from his stomach and his bones itched for blood. 

It was only a couple more feet before he would enter into the station that the intruders had been stalled in. Nick willed several spine crawlers to move up from behind the terrans, effectively blocking them in and sandwiching all of the sorry assholes between a rock and a hard place. Nick’s rage overflowed from him, coating the bone ensemble that damn wretch dared call wings in a wrathful green flame. He could tell the acolytes had seen him, their war calls resounding in time with increased speed; “ _ Pity” _ he thought, “ _ lambs to the slaughter _ ”. Each time one would get into striking distance, he would have to block a swing from their energy blades before he could break something vital and leave them dead. With only one left standing, he threw a paw out and drew the pitiful creature towards him before slicing his body to pieces with his wings; granting them all a relatively quick and gracious death.

When he was sure that the terrans were the only others left, he spoke to them, voice scratchy at first. “ **_Come out friends, you’ve nothing to fear from little ol’ me_ ** _ ” _ the threat hung heavy even though his voice sounded as smooth as silk.

When none of the terrans moved from their spot, he willed the changeling to attack the nearest marine. It’s cartilage and flesh crafted form slamming into the soldier’s armored back, sending him careening into the others and starting to force them into the open as more crawlers pushed up from the rear. The battle between the marines and the creature lasted only moments before his strength was overtaken and he shuffled into the open. Fortunately for both the changeling and Nick, it was strong enough to push all of the terrans though into the chamber before it’s form ran out of borrowed time.

* * *

**_Judy_ **

 

The last thing she wanted to do was push out into the open where the protoss had been slaughtered by the glowing figure. But it wasn’t much of a choice as a flurry of armored movement, all of them were shuffled from the corner and into the open where the figure could presumably see them. Her gaze lanced up from the impaled executor to the orange scaled visage of a seemingly familiar figure, two swaths of emerald flame poured out behind the figure in the shape of wings that matched the same erie glow coming from two eyes on its front. Two of the marines quickly threw themselves to the front of the sloppy grouping and unloaded their rifles towards the creature, who flashed forward in bursts; blinking from one spot to another faster than the marines could adjust their aims.

Her rangefinder chirped warning after warning with the figure’s approach. “Fuck!” roared through her receiver when the figure crashed down onto the two marines in a flash of green and red. The canid shaped creature slashed downwards into the visor of the leftmost shooter, raising a splash of blood when it’s claws crushed in the protective cover and it’s mouth clamping down on the shoulder guard of the rightmost; keeping them in place long enough for one of the flaming wings to adjust and skate directly under his occupied arm and into the torso of the marine. Judy’s visor warnings chirped again, twice more as the two marines fell to the assault. When the figure spoke again, she nearly felt her heart stop. 

“ **_You might as well choose between yourselves… I’ll let one of you live_ ** ” she could feel the trembling anger in his voice, “ **_You’ll tell that bastard Mengsk that I’m coming for him next_ ** ”

Judy’s heart stopped for a moment before it jerked back into overdrive, without thinking, she pitched her light’s directly onto the figure. “Slick?” she questioned, hoping and fearing beyond belief. Her fears were amplified when the menacing figure’s gaze snapped from the group to hers, drawing a shaky breath when it’s eyes narrowed. “N-no… It can’t be” she trailed off, “they said you were dead” she stepped closer to the fox.

“ **_Carrots?_ ** ” he asked, she continued to step closer, “Y-yea… it’s me” she replied, awestruck at what she’d found, “Nick they gave me the transcript from your last communication…” his ears snapped down with a series of light clicks from his carapace. “ **_Where is Finn? We need to go to the palace! We have to kill Mengsk!_ ** ” the flames on his back flared up brighter and hotter as his focus turned to the primary objective of his ire.

“He’s dead” she nearly whispered, “He’s already dead”

“ **_WHAT!_ ** ” he screeched, realizing she was coming closer again, “ **_Don’t touch me!_ ** ” he hissed, spines shooting up all over his back as he slid far out of her reach.

“Why?” you seem in control… what? Think you might try to hurt me?” she answered, posing her own query to match her step forward once more..

“ **_I just killed those Protoss!_ ** ” Screeched the fox, “ **_You can see it for yourself, I’m dangerous and infested! Either leave, or put me down!_ ** ” he demanded.

“H-how dare you” venom dripping in her words, so strong that the still living squad shifted closer to the zerged fox. “How dare you say that! I spent the past four years pining away because you  **_died_ ** you  **_fucking died!_ ** I had nothing but revenge on my mind. And now, I come, thinking I’d find your remains and beacon so I can give your dumb ass the goddamn burial you deserve. Now you fucking think I’ll let you go?! What are you, dumb? Or fucking insane!?” her threatening tone actually forcing the fox to back down as she moved closer and closer.

“ **_What then?_ ** ” he asked, resigned, he could never deny her anything: “ **_What will you do with an infested fox?_ ** ” the self depreciation in his tone was almost triple as caustic as the pure rage and indignation held in her own.

“Before the swarm left, we made leaps in the understanding of genetics from research gleaned from the zerg and those horrible hybrids… with some time, I think we could” she paused,”maybe” her voice trailed off, failing to finish her statement.

“ **_Maybe what?_ ** ” he asked, confusion and wonder growing to equal his ire.

She looked his form up and down wistfully, quickly snapping her gaze back to his torso and head when she realized he was cloaked in only his protective spines, “I think we can do something to arrest the metabolic leaps that are present within Zerg biology” Seeing that he did not understand, “It would stop you from being able to or being forced to shift forms… we’ve only tried it on larva, but they didn’t perish, sOoo” she let out a pent up breath “It most likely won’t kill you either” drawing a long breath now with the important notion off her chest.

“ **_I think I’m stable, I haven’t shifted since my original transformation… but without Kerrigan’s swarm, I cannot change to any other form_ ** ” he slouched back onto a partially destroyed probe, which whirred angrily at his presence, quickly quieted with a press of bladed wings, before Judy could level another question he continued, “ **_Kerrigan and her swarm have gone, their leviathan warned that I would be left… I can still feel them drifting away_ ** ” he looked directly up to her, “ **_I don’t think they’ll be coming back_ ** ”

Southpaw motioned for the others to lower their guns as the fox lifted up from his seat to stand before them; Judy moved to stand again between him and the soldiers, the sound of creaking bones causing a shudder to move down her spine. “We don’t know of any side effects from it… but it would take much time to get everything ready” she transitioned hopefully, “It’ll stop you from mutating and I think that with some effort we might even be able to assist your appearance” she sounded hopeful, Nick paused, his wings pulling down to his back as he pondered his mate’s words. “ **_Alright Carrots… for you, I’d do anything_ ** ” his mouth closing with a muffled click. She took her opportunity, stepping infinitely closer before pressing her triage med-injector chock full of Cyclohexylamine and Diazepam into his chest, he shuddered at the harsh stab; the needle barely making it between a pair of scales, before wobbling back when the drug mix crashed into his system. Mumbling a brief, “ **_Whah ou oo aht_ ** ” as his legs gave out, crumpling his form into the ground, overzealously sedated.

With a dull static pervading his ears, he felt his body shift upwards before coming to rest on something solid; he could barely understand the words his mate spoke through the molasses drowning his mind.

“They ---n’t let us --ake h-m -a-k -nless -- sedated”

Her words drifted into and through his mind with little cadence, now unable to comprehend what she was saying, much less anyone else, leaving him completely inundated by the tranquilizer’s intense effect. 


	12. Infestation Growing: 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final part of my previous chapter, I had at one point intended to make this into a full-fledged story but couldn't find time between my already numerous active projects, I might come back to it or not; I really don't know.
> 
> Again, I own nothing but my own original ideas- Disney owns the rest.
> 
> If you are interested in using one of these prompts in a story of your own, please leave a message. Thanks for reading
> 
> \-- Leroi

**_Laverne-Tec Labs_ **

With her mate now secured in her custody, high on her very own industrial mega-tower. She stepped into the lab room with his still-insensate form. With the drugs still active in his system, he’d be a puddle of orange for easily another decent chunk of time before he would even begin the arduous process of regaining motor control, briefly wondering, “ _ What must it be like for a psionically active mammal to be sedated?” _ would his mind still be active under the hazy effects, leaving him completely awake in an unresponsive body? Or would he be inundated by the drug and fall into a dreamless sleep like most others could depict after being tranq’d.

Her wonder was pushed aside when she dragged one of her rolling lab-chairs over to his side and lowered it so she could sit comfortably and maintain contact if desired. She took the moment to reach out to the previously flame coated wings on his back, “ _ Must have been his psionic powers” _ she decided, especially since the flames didn’t continue after the tranquilizer kicked in. On a whim, she reached out to the bones, gently taking hold of one of the furthest bladed tips and lightly pulled on it.

“ **_Nmgmn_ ** ” slurred the fox through his drug induced haze, unable to do much else.

She couldn’t help but smirk, giggling a bit at his situation, her paw drifting with the bones as they wiggled weakly against her grip. Judy traced the bones upwards until she was touching what would be a Metacarpus on a normal bird’s wings, tracing it down; she came to the split of the Radius and Ulna. “ _ They are so much thicker than normal bones” _ her grip tensed lightly on them as she attempted to move it only to find that even under the effects of the cocktail of tranquilizers, they were still far stronger than she was; resigning to this, she moved on. The Humerus was almost interconnected with the previous two bones, bending over with no visible joints; however, she knew from experience that there must be one hidden somewhere within the solid bones. While looking down at his spine, she could see where they attached to his back, the chitinous fur growing up to the edge of aforementioned Humerus that actually Jutted directly out instead of connecting to another external bone.

“ **_Mnggnm!_ ** ” his entire body wobbled weakly this time, “ _ My grip must have done something” _ she took the moment to stroke the connection from his spine-like scales to the bone briefly, a sudden shock twisted her mind from her body in a flash of light.

* * *

**_Memory_ **

 

Judy looked out from two eyes that were not her own, and spoke without her own voice. Only realizing that it was a memory when she attempted to pivot only to have her body stay stock still, thrashing in her stead when a large wyrm-like creature sprouted suddenly from a raised section of fleshy flooring. “ **Be still meat creature… work is yet to be done** ” she could feel pressure rise in his throat as a scream built up, but not a sound besides rushing breath came out when it diverted to exit through a canid-shaped nose at the tip of his muzzle, the flesh of his mouth long since mutated shut. “ **Your screams are loud… too loud for accurate work, best alternative** ” Judy felt the panic rise in his chest only to be expressed as a rush of air and a muffled whine when the hideous abomination began to cut into his chest again and again, small globs of green goo exchanged into the openings as the creature plied it’s monstrous craft. The fox’s eyes dared to sift downwards to his torso, Judy almost felt second-hand whiplash when his muzzle snapped upwards; his breathing far too fast, his heartbeat- already fast, continued to speed up dangerously before the memory blanched into blackness. Giving her an erie, trapped feeling as the body she was vicariously experiencing fell limp. The view of a bloody, torn up body leaking green ooze trapped in her mind. 

An instant later, the fox’s eyes darted open, belaying a hideous green light. She could feel the painful gags as his mind tried to adjust to having lungs full of fluid, painfully wretching as his mind attempted to reject it before blacking out again.

This time, when Nick came to, he already been screaming; voice hoarse and scratchy, blood pouring out of his maw when his body began to reject it in favor of a horrid black ichor being pumped into his body by multiple sharp tendrils. Each one felt like a half-foot of steel stabbing into him and the pressure felt crushing, many of his veins unable to transfer the thick substance quick enough and rupturing. The horrid squelches of ruined veins mixed with a strange and harrowing sound of his body stitching back together filled the shared senses as the previously crimson tears forced from his eyes ran black.

The fourth flash of light, brought on by renewed consciousness forced her to a view of a hazy green liquid once more and a concave room that seemed barely large enough for the fox to have fit into, only understanding what she was viewing when his taloned paws lashed out; tearing the cocoon asunder. She felt his shivering as the world spun briefly before coming to a rest, his form instinctively curling in on itself, treating him to a view of his now changed body. Rust colored scales jutting off his body in the form of wide spines, paws now containing long claws more akin to talons before a jolting shock crisscrossed him at the sight of ossein wings pulling into a protective cage around the shivering creature. A horrid scream of pure, desolated horror tore through her skull with all the force of a liberator’s rail gun.

* * *

**_Lab_ **

 

That pained howl, painful as it was, was the last sound she heard before the memory shattered, leaving her back in the swivel chair; one paw still clenched tightly onto the bones jutting from his spine, so tight her knuckles were beginning to lose feeling. “Fuck… N-ick” tears streaming down her face in sympathetic pain. “I-I’m so s-sorry” her grey paw reached out to his back, hesitating at the dangerously sharp spines before they folded flat against his back; allowing her paw to run through in a petting motion overtop of them in the small nook between his wings, the light tapping sound from her tears pitter pattering into his armored back was the only sound to fill the area before the fox let out another small burst of movement and sound.

“ **Jhdy**... **nhou** ” his body was fighting against the final remnants of the drug, his mind was starting to get through the thick soup clogging it up. “ **S’kaye** ” the words had tumbled from his sleeping body, but were clearly directed to her.

His action brought a small smile to her face, “Stop reading my emotions you dope” a light, weak-forced punch; much more like a resigned pat, landed on his shoulder. To his credit, the fox’s tail shuddered, flopping to one side limply before repeating the action two more times then coming to a complete rest when the limb became too heavy. Her tears slowed and stopped when a flash of memory sparked from the fox over to her, he was looking at a photo of the two of them smiling as they looked out towards a sunset. A slightly slurring voice spoke in her mind, “I hm s-orry Jhdy” she nearly laughed at how funny his voice sounded under the effects of the tranq when the fuzzy feeling he was conveying to her jarred with the shifting and hazy scape of his drug-afflicted memories. Reaching a creciendo when her thoughts drifted further to when she pined away for him; not immediately recognizing her fault when the memory snapped through the link and into the fox, causing him to seize for a second in her grip before some of his spines shivered under her grip. The lapine immediately regretted her momentary ignorance, attempting to brace herself against the onslaught of emotional pain incoming; ramming into her makeshift defences with all the force of a tsunami- easily thrusting aside her meager concentration and replacing it with waves and waves of crushing pain.

Judy struggled to keep her contact with the fox, trying to make some small notion of stability in the howling gale of his shattered being; tears streamed from their eyes as one, she persevered, fighting harder to batter through the miasmic turmoil boiling in his soul. Knowing how much it would hurt both of them to sever it now, she continued to fight; making ground against the pain flooding through her fox, brief flashes of memory from the fox slid through the roiling mindscape. Horrid selections of her fox going berserk with horror, sorrow and pain lit up with bloodthirsty killing, devouring and rage, blood everywhere- before finally coming to rest on a horrible green flame that crackled sinfully as it devoured everything. Steeling herself once more, Judy pressed onwards through the searing memories, refusing to sever the link as she pressed onwards. With the burden shared between the two, she barely managed to crack through it, forcing calm across the fox.

True reality started to bleed through their passed visions when she started to feel strong limbs start to encircle her panting from beginning to press into her; wrapping her into an almost uncomfortably warm embrace. Her eyes opened to a wall of orange, gazing up, she found herself riveted to the pressing stare from his iridescent eyes; their viridian hue almost painfully bright. Now he spoke with what she could have only assumed to be his new voice, “ **_I’m so sorry Judy…_ ** ” his gaze broke, lacing over his outstretched wingtips in an attempt to steady himself, “ **_I never meant for you to see that_ ** ”

       “See what Nick?” she sounded off with genuine concern, she could see dark trails leading away from his eyes; closer inspection left her with no doubt it was more of that nox ichor. When he failed to elaborate, she pressed closer in their shared embrace, “See what?”

“ **_I hurt you_ ** ” he sounded so weak, so frail. He seemed as though he were barely paper thin, “ **_those memories hurt you… I never wanted you to see them, I never wanted you to see those memories or experience my pain_ ** ”

She brought one of her legs up behind them, slowly pushing him onto his back as they slumped down to the ground. “You would never purposefully hurt me” she forced herself to compose, strong and willful, her paw tracing circles on the smaller scales of his face; careful to avoid the liquid, lest it be dangerous. “I fought side by side with you, we’ve saved each other too many times… Nick” she paused, “If you think that hiding emotional pain will protect me from anything, you’re wrong… you felt my pain, I’ve felt yours” she leaned her head down to sink into the crook of his neck, “It would be wrong of me to not try to help in any way I can” a light sniffle slipped from her maw, drawing her forehead to his in a moment of extreme weakness.

* * *

**_Testing_ **

 

Within the next two weeks, Judy had managed to synthesize the first stage of the serum for her mate. Choosing to apply it late one night when he slipped from consciousness; not knowing that the creep-covered flooring would have provided him with the information he would then use to metaphorically corner her about shadiness. While she had managed to keep herself in check during their little discussion, he had gotten her to promise that she would wake him before administering anything; less an issue arise during the process.

Now she was looking in at the fox, he had curled into a near perfect circle of spines with his wings covering him in a latticework of sharp bones. She had watched him while he slept for a decent portion of her in-lab time watching the fox, figuring it might have allowed her to glean more information about his newer habits and reactions. She had gleaned nothing from her additional time watching him, she already knew where the creep came from- after all, there wasn’t anything else that could have spawned it. The room’s video recordings proved it when she watched a couple recordings back; each one showing the fox’s body flushing with bioluminescence before a small pooling of purple gunk poured from his mouth. She watched the carpeting spread from the edge of his bed to the floor before it branched out; growing across the floor at a generous pace. Within the final recording, she watched as his maw gently opened; spilling none of the aforementioned creep, instead a small worm-like creature branched out. It’s long body sliding directly through the flooring with ease only available to the Zerg, a small node of biomass grew at the site of it’s intrusion; several small oculi glowing from it’s surface as the small creep tumor implanted to the ground.

Hopps placed her head into her paws, feeling the striking difference of missing claws on her right paw when they pulled down her features. “Gah” she bemoaned, “How can I fix this!” she racked her mind. “ _ If he only does so unconsciously and in his sleep, he can just sleep within a monitored lab environment” _ this recent jump in understanding of her mate’s condition would provide her research with a much needed boost as she pressed onwards; even with the lack of greater understanding that the Zerg held over genetic manipulation. She had resigned to the fact that she might never get her mate back before, every moment she had with him now, alive and in his right mind, was icing to her rather delicious cake.

She paced for a moment, speaking to herself “Even if I can’t get the production to stop, if it is needed for you… we might  _ need _ to keep it” she trailed to herself, now pausing to stare through the one-way mirror at her fox; his sleeping form curled tightly within a ball of sharp edges and lightly glowering greens as he shifted lightly. While the final recording was simply playing back from earlier that day, she couldn’t help but find it strangely infatuating in the way that the Zerg creatures could so easily shift and create life from in such a beautiful manner. “ _ It’s a pity they are so focused on total annihilation, they would be such interesting beings to study. We could learn so much” _

As the thought passed through her cortexes, a light blossomed within, “Maybe we can!” and immediately set aside several tools and her kit before starting to furiously type into her workstation.

  
  



	13. Thorn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick? a killer you say? Shady business involving crazies and unprecidented situations that could not, and most likely would not happen? Sign me up. I hope you guys enjoy my take on the "Hitman" idea. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> \-- Leroi

The kit’s breathing came in rasping surges, he had run from his small town in a dead sprint towards the rose gardens at the summit of Fang Mountain. Years ago, he vowed to call the mountain Thorn instead on account of the wild roses that grew bountifully at its height instead of the estranged voyager that had been partially responsible for the discovery of their homely little nook between the raging sandstorms and the intrusive rock face looming overhead. 

When he had first bolted from the flaming building, the blood that had covered him poured off of his fur with little cadence; it barely dribbled now, having both dried into and been caught up by his once pristine coat. Nick thought nothing past his initial desire to be far, far from these ravaging beasts; diving cleanly into one of the massive patches of pale roses. He’d tended these fields for many years with his family, he knew how easily his fur should have blended into the sea. However, as Nick panted in the secluded darkness; his eyes adjusting to the din, his paws coming into focus first followed shortly by his arms and the rest. The first thought coming to his mind was the cloying and suffocating scent of blood, it was everywhere, his pure white fur and clothing had been saturated by the gummy, now-drying liquid despite his best efforts. Nick’s eyes rushed from his hiding place to the partnering field of crimson roses across the path from his supine form, “ _ Three… two… one..”  _ he shifted to crawl out just as a blinding light burned onto the path next to him, the spire of sudden light caused him to freeze; he dared not move, it could be more of  **_them_ ** .

His fears were corroborated as whatever held the light followed with six evenly spaced reports, plumes of fire and brimstone blasted through the red roses, sending swaths of plant flying as a gurgled scream tore from a pair of small figures; one attempting to carry the other until another set of rounds tore through the din, quelling the momentary escape. Nick tried to stifle his gasp seeing the figures crumple back to earth only twenty or so feet from him; despite his best efforts, his gasp wasn’t withheld.

“Hey boys! We got another one!” the tiger pointed towards the streaks of blood marring the perfect pale complexion of the roses Nick had hidden himself in. The dripping fox tried to flatten himself into the dirt further, anything to stop them from finding his final resting place within the impromptu guard. Inadvertently, Nick pressed his nose too close to a patch of loose dust, causing a struggled and rough cough to tear free through his throat followed by another, weaker, gurgling cough as some of the blood on his fur pulled into his throat. The tiger that had been closing in on him suddenly shined his light down to the bloody fox on the ground, “Looks like someone got him good already, fucker’s nearly bled out already” before he turned back. Nick, thinking of all he’d already lost. took the moment of weakness; springing up from the patch to latch himself onto the giant feline, “ _ nothing left to lose” _ he thought with renewed vigor. The tiger didn’t even shift under the increased weight, but did when his knife slipped free from the sheath on his back. Nick took the sword-sized kukri blade and used it to hack through the neck of the tiger.

At the loss of his head, the tiger’s body fell limp and tumbled into the thorned roses with a dedication that would have suggested otherwise. Nick’s smaller frame allowed him to hold on through the initial fall, but was dropped loose when the body continued to roll through the roses; leaving him pressed into the thorns, battered and bruised from his injuries with darkness just barely starting to tinge the edges of his vision. The small fox brought a paw up over his head, attempting to ignore the biting pain from the plethora of small knives that had been driven through his hide to bring himself back up to a position he could move from when a firm kick sent him tumbling back onto the path.

“Well well well, what do we have here?” the last thing the fox saw before the darkness claimed him was the scarred and grinning facade of a cheetah.

* * *

**_Days Later - Tel'adre Ruins_ **

A familiar cheetah wearing military tan padded into the artificially darkened room, staffed by several panthers, “where is he” he demanded, picking at the dust caught under his claws.

“Right here sir” came a bland answer from one of the numerous felines, drawing a harsh tug on a mechanized lever beside the edge of a large steel drum; the lever bringing the harsh white lights to life to illuminate the steel container, of which, the lid was promptly removed to reveal a metallic smelling filling of gruesome origin.

The Cheetah smiled, his namesake grin forming across his scarred face in time for another of the black-furred felines to gruffly thrust a paw into the drum and pull the barely conscious body of the fox from inside. “Please, leave us be for now, I’d like to get to know our little guest”

Nick’s muzzle parted barely as thin breaths pulled into his lungs, the new lack of blood-scented air causing his brain to begin it’s slow restart. Joker lifted the fox by the soaked scruff of his neck, shaking his limp body a couple times before unceremoniously dropping him into the hard sandstone construction. “Wake up fox” he sneered, using the very tip of his guarded foot-paw to jostle the kit around in the hopes of adding haste to his recovery.

Only moments later, when Nick’s eyes cracked open; revealing his once sharp emeralds, did the cheetah stop his painful wake-up call. “ _ Heellooooo _ ” Joker smirked, seeing the look of tired fear flash into the fox’s visage, “hey, hey” his smile widened at the palpable scent of both blood and fear, “I’ve got a couple questions for you… just one actually” he waited until the flash of intelligent thought broke through the instinctive reactionary fear that had glazed his eyes before he continued. “You killed Alexi, my most prized bodyguard” Joker let his words sink in for a moment, reading the expression on the kit as he continued.

Nick shuffled, attempting to open his maw; anything to get this vile creature to simply end his life, but was cut off before he could even find his hoarse voice. “I can’t really kill you… you know that right?” he offered, sitting down beside Nick, “I’ll need the money from selling you to hire another pair of good paws… someone much like Alexi” he continued, shifting his paws around as he spoke; smiling greater as the scent of fear grew in depth, “We’ll need to make some changes here” he grabbed at the fox for a couple painful seconds, “You’re in no shape to be a killer… not yet at least” with that, the spotted feline smiled; a harsh and hateful grin, “But no fear, soon enough, you’ll be perfect for what we need” Joker grabbed the kit, now by his neck rather than just the scruff, and tossed him into the barrel; careful to avoid spilling it’s contents before lifting the lid back up and pressing it back down into the container.

* * *

**_Three Years Later_ **

Quick, sharp hisses were the only tell that the fox wasn’t dancing as he pivoted and snapped around the lightly armored mammal sharing the ring with him. The watchful gaze of his instructor and “owner” kept the other mammal from stepping to the relative safety that distance would provide. The pair of curved blades that the fox wielded weren’t sharpened and would have provided no danger to the gazelle as they exchanged blows to show his proficiency. Unfortunately for the gazelle, one of the pointed curves slammed into the unprotected area just below his chin; a broad fountain of blood sprayed from the ruined neck as the creature fell to his knees, already weakening from blood loss. At the wonderful and rewarding scent of fresh blood, Nick dove forwards; losing himself to the conditioning his recent years had been provided with, sinking his maw closed on the larger prey-mammal’s wound as he both bathed himself and drank deeply from the dying creature.

       “That is what I was afraid of Joker, your  **_unconventional_ ** methods of breaking him… have some  **undesirable** side effects” the wolf rolled his wrist, checking the cloth wrap running from his knuckles up to his elbow before he stepped over the small ledge and into the ring. “This is an issue, I cannot train him like this” he reasoned, before lunging forward; snagging the fox up by his neck and pressing a firm arm inwards until the kit’s flailing slowed, through gritted teeth, “might I suggest” Mmph, “choosing a different method now? He’s already fucking shattered” nodding towards the blood-soaked fox.

“I think you might be right Roan, this is the first time I’ve gotten to see him shattered like this” Joker smiled, cracking his knuckles, “I can’t say I’m not proud of myself, after all, it’s really brought us good results!” he too stepped up, reaching out towards the unconscious fox, “I’ve managed to erase every last hint of what he was previously” a grim chuckle bubbled up, “It’s probably about time to shift to building instead of destroying… especially if I want my money”

* * *

**_Four Years Later_ **

The crimson stained fox stood stock still at the center of the heavily used ring, five of the remaining soldiers, captured from their last engagement, shifted warily in wide circles around the fox; knives and claws all extended alike into threatening positions. “That’s right boys, kill the fox and you get to leave free.” smirked Joker, “That is, if you think you can” before he stepped backwards to his chair next to Roan to see just how his investment had panned out.

The leftmost soldier, a gazelle, leapt forward with his shoulders squared and knife forward. Nick returned the favor by catching his knife-wielding arm, using his smaller size to leverage the larger mammal’s arm into a poor position; breaking his grip on the sharp object only to snag it for himself and slide it cleanly through the mammal’s throat. The vulpine quickly spun to hurl the knife, smiling internally to himself to the sound of a gurgling final breath when it passed through the sternum and heart of the wolf opposite his position; smile coming out as the creature clutched his ruined chest for a bare second before sliding down to the ground. With two already down, Nick took the opportunity to reach to his own blades; twin karambit knives tucked just around the base of his tail, their familiar heft feeling enticing to his bloodlust as he leapt into frenzied motion. The space between himself and the now grouped up soldiers evaporated too quickly for them to react properly; granting the ferocious fox dozens of quick slashes, their only advantage quickly became their downfall as his innumerable cuts broke down their last-stand of a phalanx. 

As the last soldier fell to his fury, Nick slowly returned to a formal (but ready) stance; regarding his blood covered paws and knives with a yet untamed lust for its desirable flavor, snapping out of it as his instructor stepped up. “ **NO!** ” his voice was hard, uncaring and pointed as Roan looked straight down at the fox.

Nick looked away sheepishly, wiping the blades clean on his fur before resheathing them to return to a fully attentive stance; the silence granting him the ability to listen in on a conversation coming through Joker’s phone.

       “Yes… Of course” his voice was sickly sweet as he answered whomever held the other line. “I’ve got something special you might be interested in Arturo… yes, I recall your request… no” his voice bled out as Joker stepped into an adjoining room to quickly shut the door.

“Get ready Nick, you’ll be airborne in two hours” he put a paw onto the fox’s shoulder, “Good luck…” before he too stepped away, leaving the bloody fox alone in the ring; alone with his recent kills.

* * *

**_Sixteen Hours Later - Deal - Zootopia City Limits_ **

Nick watched with rapt attention while the brightly colored city lights flashed through the windows of the military-style plane. Whomever had been on the other end of that call had most certainly been interested in something Joker had offered, “ _ Money, guns, power, favors… me?” _ his thoughts turned dark, the cheetah had gone through with his words and his training; the complete lack of subtlety his teacher had offered concerning this deal. He looked down, rubbing his paws together, staring at the crimson fur; that drum had done more than stain his fur, no matter how often they let him shower or scrub or even the one time they dragged him through the sand behind the APC, his fur refused to even budge from the bloody red it had taken to. Matching evenly with just how different these seven years had made him; killing meant nothing, others meant nothing… he’d often thought of himself as more of a possession for the greater period of that time. Across from him, Joker slipped his magazine back into a corner between the seat next to him as the plane made a hasty landing on the abandoned airstrip. Even though he’d never admit it, he hated the idea of  planes; “ _ if mammals were meant to fly, they’d have wings” _ he’d reason to himself, after all, cheetahs were built for speed - land speed, not air.

Fortunately, the craft came to a lurching stop only moments later causing the whole interior of the fuselage to burst into frenzied movement as everything was readied; crates were slid down and winch cables de-attached. Nick found himself rather introverted, the view out of the back of the plane through the bay door was certainly new. “ _ So… … much” _ it was a simple thought, undeniably so, but after a life in a country dominated by empty space and large deserts, the varied construction and differing colors were eye catching and interesting. The fox was about to start looking for Joker, but was stopped as a large paw clasped around his shoulder and forcefully pushed him through the breach and out onto the tarmac in line with the other goods available. The tiger, a tall mammal with plenty of scars, gave him a pat on the shoulder: “S’prolly better this way, for you that is” before he stepped away to stand with the group of heavily armed mammals that had taken up a casual set of positions surrounding the tail of the plane and the goods set aside.

“Joker!” shouted a mammal from behind the fox, “One semi plus trailer and three black sedans, at your ten”. True to his comrade, the cheetah spun on a dime, watching as the procession of vehicles closed in on the plane. 

The three sedans stopped the moment they reached the tail, parking in a wedge with the first car off to the right- most likely to provide excess cover if needed. The semi and it’s trailer took a wide turn and surrounded the rest of the goods until the cab was almost touching the rear of the aircraft. Nick’s breathing attempted to hitch momentarily with the appearance of multiple large bears, but his training caused him to hold fast.

With the appearance of the bears, the deal began only moments later; the polar mammal in the lead keeping a small chair aloft in the cradle of his paws, bringing the shrew to the line of goods for him to inspect them. “What is it, Mr. Joker, that you believe that I will be so  _ intrigued _ with”

Nick’s internal expression soured as the cheetah stepped over, “Right here sirs” he reached up to drag the fox forward by his shoulders, “The normal goods you’ve ordered and this lil’ thing” he nudged the fox’s back with an paw, garnering no response from the canid creature.

       “You thought I’d be interested in  **_buying_ ** a fox?” the exasperation was intense, “Mr. Joker, I fear we might not be on a level understanding here” the entire party shuffled uncomfortably, “Why would I buy a mammal? Why would, If I were to, buy only  **_one_ ** mammal?!” the small creature’s voice commanded much more authority than the fox could ever imagine on a mammal so small.

“Well you see, Mr. Big, this isn’t just a  **_fox_ ** here” he stepped behind Nick, padding to his other side as if trying to sell a crate of weapons or a vehicle. “He’s a righteous killer, trained by the best” his smile sickened the shrew. “It’s why we’re selling him, he’s cost me quite a pretty penny in losses before we ‘nabbed him and I figured it’d only be fair to have ‘em repay my courtesy”

Arturo laced his paws together, resting his small muzzle on them; he couldn’t deny how effective a trained hitmammal could be, especially in his circumstances. It could be dangerous to purchase the mammal, let alone keep him; but could he really leave the fox to whatever doom could await him with “ **_Joker_ ** ”?... “ _ no” _ he answered for himself. “How much Joker?”

“Oh…” he trailed around, “I think he’s worth about fifty, even” he smiled, caustic expression bringing bile up in the fox’s throat as they discussed buying him like a crate of tools.

       “Fifty?” came the surprised reply, “That's already an additional half of what we agreed on” Arturo addressed the Cheetah, suspecting to see the PMC trying to cheat him of money. 

“Oh I assure you, he’s well worth it” Joker was smart enough to know where the souring expression was leading, “If you buy him, and what we already agreed on, I’ll take fifteen off the top… call it sweetening the pot” he offered

Arturo motioned for his valet to lean down, “Tell Kozlov to get the bag” quickly adding, “Tell him to put another fifty in the bag too” the bear nodded, leaning back to pass the message across the array of suited mammals.  “Mr. Joker,” Big intoned, “I accept your offer, One thirty five; no more, no less”

The money was quickly produced, counted and then recounted before the goods were moved into the trailer and the plain packed up with the remaining unsold gear. “Pleasure doing business with you Mr. Big” waved the cheetah, stepping into the cargo bay just in time for it to close; leaving the fox alone with the other mammals on the old tarmac. Nick looked over, watching the old plain kick off the runway with a massive, shuddering lurch.

“So Fox…” began the elderly shrew, focusing in as those sharp emeralds panned into view, “we know nothing about you… what is your name, and how old are you”

Nick was shocked, “Excuse me?” he asked, quickly adding, “Sir” unsure he’d heard right.

“Boy” sighed the shrew, “What  **_is_ ** your name  **_and_ ** how old are you”

       “My name is Nick… and I am” his expression shifted to become unreadable, “I am… twenty four he answered, unsure of where to take the conversation; standing there, staring down his new owner with dull interest.

Big shifted back to business immediately, ordering all of his employees get into their vehicles, sending the semi off to his warehouse before he too stepped into his own vehicle behind the recently purchased fox. “So Nick,” he started, reasoning that the fox’s behavior could simply be a result of the recent excitement. “Are you a killer?” he stated bluntly, wanting to be straightforward in his assessment of his current situation

       “Who do you want sir?” asked the fox, sounding as though the question had completely bypassed him.

Arturo fumed, feeling as though he would catch on fire any moment; he understood the risk of buying the fox without having enough confirmation, especially from someone as seedy as Joker.

Seeing the shrew’s expression sour, “I meant dead… who do you want dead” his self correction derailed the fuming shrew at the station. Nick didn’t react as the several bear’s within the vehicle’s interior shifted uneasily, “I can do other things too?” offered the fox, attempting to make up for his initial failing.

* * *

**_Big Manor - Tundra Town Outskirts_ **

Arturo looked down from his desk at the serval kneeling on the floor, “You’ve disappointed me for the last time Markus, you’ve owed me money for too long”

       “P-please don’t ice me sir, PLEASE!” yowled Markus

“I won’t ice you Markus, Nicky, if you would demonstrate” said the Don as he scooched back into his seat to watch events unfold. Nick drew one of his two curved knives, flashing it to the shrew with a momentarily questioning glance, this too didn’t go unnoticed, another curt nod was the response. Nick then firmly stepped up to the figure and drew a line directly through the serval’s spotted coat before he pressed deeper again to separate the feline’s head from his shoulders. Nick held the kneeling; unconsciously tilting the headless body back a couple degrees so it would pour down his body, instantly realizing what he’d done, Nick tilted the body back to quell some of the flow.

       “Do you have any use for his blood? Pelt or flesh?” the fox registered the horrified glance from the mafioso, “I am sorry Sir, I didn't mean to offend you” he assessed, ears flattening at the thought of what would become him now; covered in blood and holding a headless body.

“Nicholas” started the shrew, “while we do occasionally kill, we rid ourselves of the body without trying to garner attention” the shrew stopped to let out an exasperated breath. Nick took the opportunity to follow up, “I will cut him up then, he will be ready for the market within the hour” Nick started leaning the body backwards again; blood gushing into his drenched fur once more.

“ **No!** ” Nick immediately stopped going ridgid, “We are not chopping him up and selling him to other mammals.” Arturo had been confused at first, the boy had seemed so innocent; now he understood, the fox appeared to be innocent because he’d been conditioned, and conditioned well at that. Killing the serval meant nothing, Arturo ran a paw down his face; he’d bought a mammal that likely didn’t even think of himself as much more than property and had doubted him from the very beginning. His thoughts bled darker for a moment as he considered how likely it might have been if the fox could have simply decided to just kill them all in the back of his own sedan. “ _ We might not have been able to stop him” _ he thought dangerously, a light smile hinting towards what he could accomplish with such an investment. “We’ll work a little bit more to get you educated on how we do  **_business_ ** here Nicky” he thought for a dangerous second, “if you do good enough... you might even earn your life” the fox’s eyes lit up at the offer, but his expression remained stony and dead by comparison.

       “Thank you sir” said Nick, barely beginning to understand the difference between the two ethics he had come to live in- kill or be killed and this strange “ _ Civilized _ ” place where his owner decided  **_not_ ** to get rid of the body, but it was not his place to judge. Nick was soon escorted to a room on the south side of the massive mansion where a fresh set of clothes and a bathroom were opened to him. 

“Clean yourself fox, you’ll have long day ahead” Misunderstanding the request from the mammal, Nick started to lick the blood from his fur; making sure to stand only on the tile to avoid making a mess with the blood. “What are you doing?!” came the bear’s loud voice.

       “Is this not what you wanted?” he asked innocently, “I am cleaning myself” the bear let out a mildly disgusted gag before lifting the fox up and dropping him into the quickly filling tub. After being left to his lonesome, the fox attempted to enjoy the steaming water, but quickly found the harsh coloring of blood tainting the water crimson. He’d never understood the desire to lay in water as these mammals must have, he checked himself once more; sighing as the reality of his stained coloring continued to maintain itself before pulling the plug from the base of the tub. He quietly stood up, toweling off quickly before changing into the offered clothes; after stepping out of the bathroom and into the bed-area, he found himself staring out the window at the sprawling city-scape.


	14. Isla Sorna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That one time I watched too much Jurassic Park. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed~
> 
> \--Leroi

**_Judy, Wheelhouse_ **

 

“Make ready for landfall!” yelled the buffalo as he stepped up to the prow of the Z.S Howler; the ZPD’s very own nautical operations vehicle. Their intended destination was Moore’s island, colloquially named Savage Island after the professor that had set up shop after finding that feral animals had survived on the island without reaching civility, the ZPD had contacted and been cordially invited to join the professor during his experiments to both ensure safety and cycle through recruits to train them to manage savage predators; especially after the Nighthowler crisis, while savage predators and prey weren’t a normal issue, they fought differently and acted differently than most victims and suspects meaning that they could become vastly more dangerous in comparison in case another maniac decided to use the flower for anything other than agriculture.

As Judy twisted the wheel in her paws, bringing the ship towards the unoccupied dock, behind her Jane Fangmeyer spoke up, “Hey Jude, how’s that fox of yours doing? You tell him you’d be out of Zootopia for a couple weeks?”

An uneasy lump started to form in her chest as she pondered her response first, “I- I haven’t seen him in nearly two weeks… I haven’t been able to reach him either” 

“Oh” she replied dejectedly, “I thought you two were… more  _ together _ ”

In a defence, “We are!” jolted the rabbit, “I-I mean, we’ve been together… you know that”

Pushing the unbidden thoughts from her mind, Judy brought the boat into the dock and began to gather her gear as the larger officers moored the boat to the pier’s cleats and started to unload the gear packed into the hold. Bogo was quick to gather a couple officers to check in with the Professor, “Judy, Fangmeyer please go to the lab” taking a moment to look for a sign, “It’s down this path, a big white building, you can’t miss it”

As the two blue-clad mammals started to trek through the slightly overgrown path, long raking scars could be seen on several of the nearby trees. Jane turned to Judy, “What’re those?” before continuing, “Claw marks?”

“I think so, in his published notes Dr. Savage stated that the animals respond to territory marking. Hence the claw marks on the path edges” reasoned Judy, “If that’s not the case… I’ve got no reason other than someone got rowdy”

They had only been walking for a couple minutes before the large white building came into view, Judy was quick to notice the several other boats moored on a dock just behind it; one looked as though it carried construction equipment and the other two had familiar sigil of the Northern Lights Produce company. ‘ _ Likely deliveries of goods and services for the island’ _ she furthered. The two officers quickly hopped up the steps to the front door where Jane knocked on the door thunderously before stepping back. 

“Hold on a sec!” yelled a voice from behind the door, the sound of several locks and bolts being disengaged causing a shocked expression to flit between the two officers. As soon as the last lock was undone, the door slowly opened allowing Judy to look into the din behind it; her attention drawn to the metallic track set into the concrete floor. 

“Professor?” cautioned the rabbit

       “Yes, that’s me, I assume you are with your crew?” responded the disembodied voice

“No, they’re still packing together at the beach” answered Jane

As soon as the affirmative was given, the door slowly creaked open far enough for the two officers to step inside; as soon as they had, it started to close. The normalizing between the contrasting brightness allowed both officers to see who had opened the door, the professor looked exactly as advertised in the mission briefing; a grey jackrabbit with numerous black stripes that could have looked at home on a tiger.

       “I assume you docked at the other beach then?” stated the rabbit matter-of-factly

“That we did” replied Judy, noting the distinct lack of other mammals, “Where is everyone?”

       “Almost all of my remaining researchers are strewn across the island running experiments into pack hierarchy as well as the actions and reactions that the uncivilized ones do on a daily basis” his flourished paw towards a map with dozens of pins across it. Seeing that they weren’t understanding, “They are tracking and observing them in natural habitats in order to document behavior”

Feeling as though something was still left out, Judy continued to prod, “It looked as though that vessel just out back had construction equipment on it, are there still workers here on the island?”

       “No” the rabbit answered a bit too quickly, “They left almost a week ago, the engines on that boat were malfunctioning and they had to arrange for another mode of transportation. I believe that they will be back within the month with supplies to fix the vessel and return back to Zootopia with it” before adding, “I would hope they’d come back, it’d be a shame to leave that equipment there”

“I see” she answered, “Where can we set up, and if you are, do you need us to accompany you on any experiments today?” 

“You can use the spare rooms here in the lab if you’d like, on subfloor one, there are several rooms that are still empty, and if that’s not your speed, I think there are still a couple open on the second floor.” the professor placed his clipboard onto the desk next to the door and pulled a green coat from the rack next to his lab coat. “I’ll be going out in an hour or so to track down a couple of the more solitary mammals here on the island, they’ve been the toughest to find and haven’t really been as we’ve expected”

“Oh” questioned Judy

       “Some of them are more inclined to violence than the pack based mammals we’ve encountered, I’ve chalked it up to the idea of a more solitary living situation and the idea of defending territory from supposed threats.”

As the three talked, the striped rabbit led them back to the door before they started to walk back to the beachhead that the ZPD had landed on. “So professor, do we need to know anything else about the mammals here on the island?”

       “Yes actually” he replied, chipper, “They are about one and a half to two times larger than those recorded in historical documents, this lines them up better with the scaling from fossilized and buried remains” cutting them off before they could respond, “It’s quite fascinating, almost as if none of them have adapted since the Primal Ages, they show no signs of any of the recorded adaptations mamalia has gone through”

That intrigued Judy, “What do you mean by that?” having understood only first part in the entirety of it’s simplicity. 

       “The prey-type mammals here on the island have tougher and thicker skeletons to protect against impact and crushing injuries, and universally they all appear to have much stronger joint connections, claws and horns - things that would be considered passive protection from outside injury. The predators share a myriad of different physical traits that run the gamut from bigger paws to more teeth and larger muzzles down to an increase in both bone density or volume” the rabbit paused for a second, pulling his codex from his pocket, “we also encountered a fox on the island, of which, might be the only surviving one, who has twin sabered teeth attached to his upper jaw as well as something I intend on discovering later when we head out to find him.

“what that?” asked Jane

       “About a week and four days ago when the first sighting of the fox was documented, the researcher was able to snap this picture before we lost contact with him.” As the professor finished, he turned his phone so they could see.

“I don't see anything out of the ordinary, aside from it's sheer size.” Judy replied, the red fox looked as though it was already trying to take a chunk out of the camera and whomever stood behind it.

Noting that the two officers didn’t immediately recognise the obvious trait, “look at his eyes” he suggested; as they did, Judy found herself trying to decipher what was wrong with them, it clicked a moment later when the professor zoomed the picture in.

       “Does he have four pupils?” asked Fangmeyer, the tiger becoming more and more intrigued by the fox the longer she stared at it.

“Very astute observation. He does indeed appear to possess a strange form of what they call Pupula Duplex although it seems to aid his vision instead of hampering it which leads me to hypothesize that it must be some kind of early evolutionary trait instead of a medical condition”

As the three made their way into the beachhead, Judy felt as though something was watching them. Never one to deny her gut feeling, she spun quickly and was able to catch a quick glimpse of red as it faded into the greenery of the deeper forest. A loud yell snapped her out of her momentary vegetation.

“Get your fluffy asses over here. We're trucking the gear to the lab now!” shouted the buffalo before muttering, “I don't want to let our gear bake in the Sun” 

All three stepped onto the step-up ledges and hung onto a railing as the vehicle spurred into motion, slowly bringing them and their gear up the rocky path towards the laboratory. “so Chief Bogo, how many officers did you bring with you?” the diminutive professor’s height not allowing him to see the officers hanging in and on the large truck.

Snorting, “We’ve got fifteen officers here including myself” replied the chief. Judy could have sworn she heard the rabbit mutter ‘ _ perfect _ ’.

* * *

**_Breakroom, Judy_ **

 

“So Professor..” started the lapine officer

       “Please, call me Jack, I’m not really one for too much formalities” he responded, a polite smile on his muzzle.

“When you said the mammals on this island appeared as though they were from the stone age or something, what did you mean?” she asked, attempting to put together the picture in a more clear fashion.

       “Well” he began, “This’ll be well before the Stone Age, they are similar to that of which is found in fossils from as early as the Primal Age,” He pulled a drawer open to reveal a picture of a fossilized skeleton still partially buried in the surrounding dirt, Judy watched with rapt attention as he produced two more pictures of the fox from different angles but clearly from an increased distance. “As you can see in this fossilized specimen and in this photo, they both share enlarged orbital sockets for their eyes, sabered front teeth and if you look here” he pointed towards the back edges of fox’s bones, tracing little hooking lines that arced backwards from just above the heel, “These are dew claws, mostly affiliated with feline species, but we’ve found them on so many of the smaller more predatory species as we discover more and more fossils” finishing his mini-tirade with a stark smile, still ready to discuss more.

Judy looked over, “So you’re saying,” a slight chuckle escaped her maw, “that this island is like the place that time forgot?” the sheer idea sounded far more ridiculous than she had intended, or thought about.

       “Actually” now the striped rabbit was also chuckling, “I do suppose that you’re partially right, they have non-identical bone structure and appearance to what we assume the fossils to represent, but that is the margin of error we’re forced to deal with.” he said shrugging.

* * *

**_Trailside, Judy_ **

 

Armed with tranquilizer rifles and light knife vests to protect against punctures, scratches and light bites. Three officers and the Professor trekked through a couple miles of light jungle terrain before coming off of the already partially-cut path and into a wide clearing opening from the large swath of vegetation. “We’ve nearly made it, only a couple hundred feet until we reach the spot where the photo was taken” the jackrabbit punctuated this by pulling a tablet from behind himself, it’s GPS still showing the blinking symbol; now only a hundred meters away.

“Uh professor?” asked Judy, looking out to the large hill at the centre of the clearing, “do you think that perhaps your lab tech got too far into the fox’s territory and that was why he was attacked? Is there any way we could get a chance to ask him in person?” prodded the curious rabbit

       “I had hypothesized that he had been attacked for the sole fact that be posed a territorial threat to the fox, further accentuated by the fact he was a wolf; probably brought out some type of aggressive response against what he could only have assumed was a threat” Savage paused for a moment, “unfortunately… you won't be able to ask Jeremy in person, the last item we have of his that was found is the lab data he uploaded before he disappeared, I fear he might be permanently lost to us" 

Perturbed by the lack of empathy the Jackrabbit projected, she tightened her grip on the rifle in her grasp. The professor moved forward ahead of the group, playing the proverbial mouse to the cat. Judy watched with bated breath as a robust looking russet figure languidly stretched up from the aether, the fox stood at the precipice of the hill and looked directly down at Jack as he tried to move up to a nearby entrance to it’s den.

“JACK!” she furiously whispered, fervently attempting to get the rabbit to look up instead of down or around him.

 

**Fox -**

 

The fox peering downward quickly caught wind of the others, none of them caring to keep downwind of him; a quick sniff gave him all the clues he needed- a rabbit, a wolf and a tiger. As the fox’s attention slipped away from the rabbit at the base of the hill, he caught sight of the three other familiar smelling mammals. Taking a momentary vacancy from his post, he padded back into his den and began stalking to the furthest of his entrances.

Upon exiting his den, the fox crouched low to the ground and started to stalk his way towards the three on the edge of the clearing. The small rabbit was still attempting to be silent and yell at the same time, the fox registered the fear coming from the diminutive creature the moment he watched her head tilt up to look at the top of the hill once more.

With the delicious scent of fear and adrenaline pouring in through his heightened senses, he continued to skulk through the underbrush towards the figures. When the rabbit’s ears perked in his direction, he flattened himself into a row of similarly coloured flowers to mask himself as he waited for her to turn away; only she didn't, the danger of her alerting the other two- much larger mammals of his presence would blow his ability to make use of his concealment. As she reached for the paw of the large feline, he leapt out of the bushes, connecting with the feline’s chest and stomach as they were thrown forward by his momentum and weight. 

 

**3rd** -

 

After the fox flew out of the underbrush, all hell broke loose. He and Jane tumbled into the clearing with him landing above her trying to crush her neck with his snapping jaws. Jack started to reach for his rifle only to have it swiped away from him as the two large predators rolled around in the flowers; something Judy would have found very heartwarming if one wasn't trying to devour the other. Every time she tried to get a clear line of sight on the canine, he would allow Jane to get the upper hand and get flipped onto his back. Something the tiger began to realize wasn't good for her; his hind claws started making deep furrows into her knife vest.

The fox quickly gave up trying to tear through her neck and instead opted to disable her so he could get the other three before tracking the wounded feline down afterwards. His forepaws dug into the edges of her vest and into the soft flesh beneath it before he dug further in with a hindpaw to flip her over so he could get his muzzle around her arm. As soon as he did, his large sabered teeth dug directly through the flesh and allowed him to snap the bone within before leaping off her and into another one of his holes before either Judy or William Wolford could tag him with a tranquilizer.

“F-ffuckkk” groaned the tiger, her wounds burning like nothing else but were thankfully superficial aside from her torn up right arm.

“Don't worry Jane, we're going to come and get you” stated the wolf matter-of-factly as he started to step forward only to have the fox flash out of the base of an old tree and clamp his jaws around the wolf’s foot and tear into the ankle. “Ahhh!” Screamed Will, grasping at his now shattered ankle.

With Judy and Jack the only two uninjured mammals standing besides the fox, they quickly stepped back to back while they walked out towards Jane; the most injured.

       “This will need to get set. I’ve got more than enough medical gear back at the lab, we just need to get out of here safely” he stated surely before adding, “and with the fox.”

“Are you insane!” chipped Judy, “He nearly took us apart, we haven't hit him once yet and I doubt he’s done yet!”

As if to accentuate the point, the fox appeared once more and began to pad his way to them once more. Before Judy could fire a so for shot, he was already on them. Instead of biting her like he did to Jane and Will, he batted her to the side with the back of his paw in a much more caring way than the lunge he threw towards Jack, attempting to tear into the doctor; whom produced a blue coloured liquid from his jacket that he deftly injected into the fox’s neck as they fell. With the effects of the medical grade tranquilizer quickly manifesting, the fox’s stopped reacting normally as it tried to shuffle away, only to black out and drop to the floor.

Palming her radio, Judy called back to the lab for a group of officers to come quickly with medical gear; giving both their status and location, she slid down to the ground and leaned back into a nearby stump.

* * *

**_Lab, Second Day_ **

 

Judy pawed over the scratches in the armour they had been wearing, all but her’s and Wolford’s had been completely ruined. The large fox’s claws more than a match for the gear they had been wearing. She turned to face Jack as he looked through the plexiglass door at the sleeping fox within. “You said he is the only fox on the island?” she asked incredulously.

       “Yes, as far as we know. There were more here, or at least one more, we found it’s half-eaten corpse near that clearing in our fourth week here, we've been assuming that this one killed the other in some type of territory dispute or that they simply coexisted and one was killed off by another mammal interested in its territory” before the rabbit went back to checking boxes and filling lab data.

Judy slowly stepped up to the glass, keeping visual contact on the large canine. “what colour was the other one?” she asked idly 

       “The other fox had black fur” he answered simply, not pausing his work for even a second.

As the other rabbit continued to not information down onto his lab sheets, Judy found herself vacating the lab and walking aimlessly as she waited for Chief Bogo to get done talking with Will and Jane about what happened. Judy quickly found herself lost in the maze of rooms and hallways that stretched through the upper floors of the facility. ‘ _ there's no way this lab… this island can be managed by one professor and a  _ _ couple  _ _ of his estranged lab assistants that no-one had seen or heard from since they arrived’ _ that may have been her imagination acting up. But Judy could have sworn something was wrong from the very beginning when the professor had said all of his assistants had gone to the other side of the island on any type of experiment without even trying to contact them once.

‘ _ Surely I must be mistaken’  _ she thought, there was no way to assume that anything else could have possibly happened, especially given the professor's rather stellar track record. It would have dissuaded any belief of fault well before anything could have gone wrong. Though, she couldn't help herself from being curious about the living arrangements of the others that worked with Jack on his projects. Pulling a nearby door open, she came face to face with a wall of personal gear and affects.

With the veritable mountain of gear already liable to collapse on her, she stepped back, just in time to have the uppermost bag tumble from its precarious perch. As Judy bent down to lift the bag off the floor, she realized that it a small voice had begun to play from inside the bag. Both curious to what it was and to make sure that she hadn't damaged anyone's personal belongings, she opened the bag to find it only contained some clothes; this didn’t stop her from reaching in and pulling out a familiar carrot shaped pen, as soon as it came out of the bag the replay had finished. But the flashing light on the side suggested that the message was still saved on the device.

With her curiosity getting the better of her, Judy tossed the bag back into the closet before closing the door and jogging into a nearby bathroom; after closing and locking the door, she restarted the playback.

“ **Hey carrots, it's me** " the voice sounded a bit distant, but she could recognize it anywhere, “ **well. I'm just leaving this message so that you know that I’m planning a kick-ass movie night in about three weeks. Give or take, I heard from Wiley** ” Judy giggled at the funny nickname he had given Wolford. “ **that you guys would be going out to Isla del Moore to train with some real live savage mammals, if I haven't said it enough. I love you Judy, and to prove it I it's absoluteness, I'm going to hide this message in your gear bag so you find it when you get there.** ” She smirked again when she heard a soft smack come across the recorder, ” **and if you can, please say hello to my unrelated fox brother Markus for me, he’s about my size but has only black fur. Woah, he buddy! This is priva-** ” the recording cut to a close with a sharp crash just as the recorder’s tape finished up. All of her pent up tears chose that moment to break loose, he hadn’t gone missing, something was afoot. 

Pocketing the newly acquired recorder, she padded her way down into the infirmary where Will and Jane had been placed so for injuries could be maintained enough to get mobile again. To her surprise, the room was empty and the beds had been remade. Shocked, she looked around the room before coming to the conclusion that she must have simply looked into the wrong room; until she started to leave and came face to face with the medical information posted to the rear of the door with all of their injury information. Snagging it, she bolted for the large auditorium style room they had opted to use for sleeping arrangements.

As soon as she walked in, the striped rabbit slipped out the door behind her. “Chief! CHIEF!” she yelled, “You have to see this” she stated, presenting both the recorder and the paperwork to him as she began to hastily reconstruct the current situation. After hearing that two of his officers were missing, he snagged his tranq pistol and quickly stood up to assist.

As the officers tore through the building in search of their missing counterparts, Bogo and Judy eventually found themselves entering a dark closet on subfloor one. Seeing her enter, Bogo quickly followed; his larger stature triggering the motion sensing lights, bathing the room in a pale glow. Pictures of different mammals in stages of what Judy could only describe as a horrible illness until she got a closer view.

With her eyes raking through the pictures, three caught her attention, they all seemed to be coded by the month and had been placed together with those that appeared at the same time; these three were simply familiar faces, the bottom one was Jane next up was Wolford- the last one sending chills down her spine, it was Nick. The pictures showed him starting out; normal. the next had two x-ray’s pasted with it denoting bone growth throughout his body. The next picture showed the splaying of his wrist and ankle joints as well as small jutting bones coming from their backs; Judy’s mind raced a mile-a-minute, “ **_These are dew claws_ ** ” the professor’s voice rung in her skull, she moved onto the next. It showed him laying on all fours and appearing unconscious, below it were two more pictures- his doubled eyes and the large teeth. The final two pictures were from the same perspective as Jack had already shown them, Judy assumed it might have been the dead researcher on the account of the last picture showing Nick’s bloodied muzzle trying to tear chunks out of someone.

“Chief, we need to get everyone and get out” stated the rabbit, hoping to convey the desperation she felt.

“Only after we find our officers and deal with Savage, I've no intentions of leaving him here to his own devices, especially considering his actions to this point.” responded the buffalo.

When they turned to leave the storeroom, they found that the door had been opened in their stead. Two figures now blocking the exit, “I apologize for any inconvenience to this point, but we really are at an impasse”

“what do you want Jack” spat Judy 

       “It’s not what I want Judy, it’s what  **we** **_need_ ** ” he stepped forward, flanked by the now clearly conscious fox. “We  **_must_ ** retain order if these savages are to be protected”

“but they're not are they?” she asked “they're just mammals you've fucked with aren't they!” 

“In a way, yes, but they’re built as nature intended them” his eyes belayed a manic and unrepentant madness, “they can be tamed, broken and bent to our will with the help of modern medicine” to prove, he brought his paw forward, snapping his fingers and making a distinct motion matching a small half-chirp; Nick stepped forward fluidly before sitting down on his haunches, continuing to stare at the two officers with a blank expression. “He could be yours, you can stay together” he offered, “But safer and with this” he raised his paw as if about to snap once more, causing Nick’s attention to shift to him attentively, “he would do  **_anything_ ** for you”

Judy stared at her mate in horror, “What have you done to him” tears started to stream down his muzzle at the sight before her, “What did you do to NICK!” her tiny paws balling into fists.

       “He’s still in there Judy,” Jack smiled at her slowly calming expression, “predators are tools, dangerous and sometimes ferocious tools. In the right hands they can be incredibly effective” he reasoned to them, pulling his paw back down to his side, “With some choice pharmaceutical actions, they can be brought to this prehistoric level, they’re not really mammals in the civil sense, not entirely, but the mammal they were is still there just only when it is allowed" his sick expression brought pain to the old buffalo’s heart while sending chills of fear for her mate down the lapine’s

With the picture finally coming together, Judy had only a couple pieces left, “What about when we reached the clearing, he attacked you!”

Jack countered easily, leaning back onto the massive fox, “normally I bring him food, especially so when I bring others with me. But I couldn't allow him to eat any of you.” stated simply, “you’re all too important for such things, predators and prey have lived alongside each other in nature since the beginning of life itself. They should be  **_protected_ ** and  **_preserved_ ** , that stupid ewe thought too harshly, what would society do without them? Natural predators are very necessary when it comes to our natural balance.” he was sounding more and more zealous as his frantic raving’s went on. “If she had them killed, we’d be losing some of the most precious archaeological, genetic, and species resources that have ever existed.” he stood back up, “Please, join me” his paw reached out towards her, “Let me teach you how to handle and care for him” when she failed to step forward he continued, “it would be no different than having a pet” he looked over and smiled, “A big, fluffy guard-dog to protect and care for you whenever or whatever you need or desire”

Judy stepped back, falling into a light fighting position with her paws loosely held up and ready to spring away at a moments notice, “give me back my fox!”

The professor looked at her and the chief with a quickly cooling stare, a light twitch in his brow giving away the ire brewing between his tall ears, “So be it then, it’s a shame you don’t see it from the same perspective that I do” he looked over to the fox, nodding carefully “Food” Nick’s hide tensed, showing the corded muscle underneath; testing his strength against that of the lapine holding him back. Judy immediately noted the collar, seeing that it bore one of the familiar tracking tags from the board at the entrance, she tensed when the lapine professor brought his other paw up to unclasp the collar; letting the hungry beast surge forwards.

Nick’s from jolted from the floor to the buffalo, clearing the distance in one massive leap, clearly going for the largest issue first. When they collided, it forced the Chief back several steps before he could brace himself to hold back the hungering fox; all the while, Jack continued to taunt them from the room’s edge. “it's a shame you had to push it, he could have been yours. I know what you meant to him, before he shifted fully- he pined away for nearly four days until his  hunger nearly drove him insane”

The professor's rambled jaunts were started to get on her nerves as she searched the ground for her tranquilizer pistol, but the last one gave her an idea. Pulling the recorder from her pocket she let it play, trying to appeal to the fox she knew was still in there deep down, her frantic and decisive act worked for a moment; his form kept pushing at the buffalo, but was no longer actively trying to tear him to ribbons and was now focused on her in moments of lax in the twin mammal’s test of strength.

 

**Nick** -

 

He had been starving, having not ate in close to seventy two hours, so when the striped one offered him food, he quite literally leapt at the opportunity; the singular fact that he’d be able to eat the two of them afterwards was more than enough to convince him. But now, he could feel a nagging pressure in the back of his mind. ‘ _ Nick! Nick! Nick!’  _ a little voice thundered in the back of his mind, it sounded so familiar, his hazy kind wasn't allowing him to think quickly. It hung around him like a fog, turning to face the striped one, he shook his head in an attempt to clear the fog. “Grrawr!”

“I told you to kill them!” he thundered 

Nick's mind felt like it was in reboot, he was beginning to remember things; Judy… the rabbit with the recorder, it is JUDY! His mind cried. She showed up!; tears rolled down his muzzle, and she found his recording. Without thinking, he leapt at her; his enlarged form knocked into her and they both tumbled to the floor, she tried to shield her neck and face from a supposed assault- bracing her elbows in and paws up to catch his jaws before they could clamp down, only they didn't. To her surprise, and Bogo’s relief, he let his limbs go slack; dropping him onto his rabbit, leaving only the upper portion of her torso out from underneath. Using her paws to support his muzzle, he relaxed, allowing her to rest his head over her chest with the tip of his snout resting below her chin.

“rrghow” he grumbled before giving a quick and peppy nudge before he started to lick her face from their supine position.

Judy tried her damndest to keep his muzzle shut and stop him from affectionately licking her, only to find out that she couldn't. In her moment of reverie, Judy could hear Bogo demanding Jack to return his officers and tell them how to cure Nick as well as the other inhabitants on the island. Nick’s attentions were cut short when his stomach rumbled feircely, reminding him that he’d not eaten in several days. A moment later, garbled yelling broke out, shifting Nick’s interest to the other mammal’s while Judy kept her interest on the fox before her; still worried about his health and safety. When Nick’s eyes rested on the striped rabbit everything blurred red.

A blood curdling snarl erupted from the fox as he sprung upwards to the striped rabbit, eager to tear into the crazed doctor. His form crashed into the small rabbit, using his shoulder and chest like a ram to send Professor Savage into the wall. Nick padded up so he stood directly over top of the doctor, a couple hungry strands of saliva languidly escaping from the prehistoric fox’s muzzle. Just before he could finish his delayed lunge, Judy snapped a paw out; catching his tail in both paws with barely enough leverage to drag him back, cringing to the sound of his sharp claws carving into the tile. Bogo moved quickly, tossing himself into the gap between the two mammals and pulling the striped professor from his downed position. With the lapine out of immediate danger, letting her pain-inducing grip on the canid’s tail go.

“tell me where they are or I will let Nick eat you and then have him sniff them out!” threatened the Chief

With an unsure expression Jack replied “You wouldn't”

With that and an audible tsk of disappointment, Bogo allowed his hand to sink lower towards the snarling predator underneath “Try me" Bogo’s hoof lowered the professor into the height that the fox could dead-leap, barely pulling up and out of the way with only inches to spare.

With that, Jack agreed to show them where he had moved the two officers to; a subfloor one storeroom much like the one he had ambushed them in. The two were sitting up on their beds, expressions rife with anger as they tried and failed to extract themselves from the cuffs on the sides of their bunks.

With Bogo now paying more attention to others in lieu of the rabbit, Jack took the split-second opportunity, stabbing his emergency tranq into Bogo’s beefy hand, causing it to involuntarily let go of the striped hare. Nick instantly took his opportunity, blasting past his rabbit, attempting to connect a tackle on the hare only to receive a kick to the muzzle for his trouble. Nick followed his failed leap with several quick swipes with his sharp claws; the first two being deftly dodged under and to the side; his third being intercepted by the injector’s sharp tip, delivering the entirety of it’s haze-inducing payload between his clawed fingertips. Thankfully for the hare, the majority of the injector’s contents hadn’t been ejected during his first stab, allowing him to dump more than enough into the fox. Nick attempted another weak swipe, his numbing senses not providing him enough sensation to guide either visually or physically. Jack, smiling cruelly, used his now unhindered dexterity to kick the remaining front leg out from his posture; causing him to crash to the floor in a drugged out heap.

Believing he had already outsmarted them, the striped professor dodged under the buffalo only to walk straight into the balled up fist of Judy, knocking him out cold immediately. As soon as Bogo managed to regain the feeling in his hand, he worked quickly to remove the cuffs from the two officers on the beds. Upon turning, he found that the fox had gotten much more of whatever had been inside the injector than he had. Nick wasn't even able to sit up, much less do much more than lay idly watching a strip of cloth with his tongue hanging partially out as both bobbed in what appeared to be an infinite loop. He dreaded Judy's next words. “someone's going to have to carry him Chief”

The request was quickly denied by both Will and Jane due to injuries. She tried to push his wobbly form but only managed to slide her own paws out from underneath herself; leaving only Bogo able to carry the partially savage fox. The instant Bogo started to lift the fox, Nick let out some skittish whines and chirps; clearly not a fan of being manhandled. Judy watched with bated breath as Nick’s drugged out expression flitted to one of interest as Bogo’s right horn came into reach, then to fear as she watched his maw part and clamp down on the bone with intermittent nibbles. 

A long sigh came from the buffalo, “Hopps, I swear to all that is holy! Get this dumbass something to chew on that isn’t attached to my head!” 

Judy hesitantly looked around the room before coming to a stand holding what she hoped to be a faux mammal skeleton, she snagged a tool off the desk to her right and managed to pry it out of the stand before handing it up to the Chief who quickly used it to get the fox to stop chewing on him. “Hopps, Wolford, Jane… I’m leaving, all the others should have their gear at the boat already” looking down to the striped hare, “And you are coming with me” before picking him up in the hoof furthest from the fox’s mouth as he vacated the building.

“Let’s get the hell out of here” groaned Judy as she followed the two remaining ZPD officers out of the facility, trailing the Chief by only a couple moments.


	15. Songs - Take Me Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something my tired mind put together after hours of music and a quick re-read of Predman Hell. Loosely based off the song "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand. I have plans for several other small works based on songs as well as a few that are already in progress. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed.
> 
> \-- Leroi

“ **_So if you’re lonely, you know I’m here waiting for you_ ** ”

The action racked heavily, snapping into place with practiced precision. The barrel twisted in tightly and quietly, a light hiss of wind whipping through old pipes the only resonating sound in the thunderous quiet of the dilapidated building. Two halves of perfectly maintained ivory daggers widened into a vicious smile at the thought of the mayhem that would soon transpire, nebulous hands moving within and without the spears of dying sunlight barely piercing the veil provided by the dilapidated building.

A thick clip of steel rattled for a hair moment as paws came to rest over the overly familiar grip of the long rifle; pressing upwards in search of a tinny sounding click from it’s hooking clasps, the owner looked at the device with a shudder of excitement; eyes tracing along the sleek design and to the long clip containing rounds as long as his own paws.

“Alpha,  **_green-light_** ” he murmured, lining the scope up to his eyes to dial in the minute adjustments necessary for proper use.

“Roger that Alpha, green-lights ‘cross the board” the dispatcher’s voice was dull and tired, “Happy hunting”

“ **_I’m Just a Crosshair_ ** _ ” _

The reticle slowly nudged away from the crowd, searching along to find anything out of the ordinary before starting the slow pan up towards the podium; finding a trio of figures, the towering Chief- appearing sickened and even more dead-faced than usual. Opposite of the bovine stood a small lapine, he smirked, “ _ I wonder how well that worked out for you Miss Hopps” _ he almost couldn’t blame her for it, being lead to her conclusions and fed information to make such a fruitful case; but how could he not? “ _ She was foolish enough to let them take so much advantage” _ he half considered taking her first, figuring he could still hit his designated target before gruffly deciding otherwise. Briefly he wondered if he really was doing her any favors, she’d surely live with guilt for what happened, that is, if she didn’t truly believe in it herself. He shook off the errant thoughts and climbed his reticle back up to hang just a scant few inches overtop the blue clad ewe, sickening bile raised in his throat momentarily before he reached up to his earpiece.

“Alpha to all Specters” he waited for a series of clicks indicating their perked ears, “Preacher, we have green-light, any final prayers?” he asked gently, mind counting down the final seconds before they’d commit to their hunt.

No shuffling, no clicks and no breathing spanned the comms for a heartbeat before the familiar and always-angry voice blustered in. “ **_No_ ** survivors”. The shadowy figure smirked and let his eye fall from the reticle for a moment.

“You heard ‘em boys” his whisper carried more force than a whip, “hunting season is  **_open_ ** ”

“ **_I’m Just a Shot Away From You_ ** _ ” _

The first cracks of thunderous retribution blasted out through the dusk light like souls seeking vengeance, finding purchase everywhere they flew; the sound of screams and reporting bolts of invisible lightning filled his mind with a thirst for retribution and bloodlust each in turn guiding his paw back to draw heavily on the trigger to send more rounds through the crowd and into their selected targets.

He watched for the half second it took for the crowd before him to realize just what had happened, breaking into a frenzy of faulty attempts at escape; they capitalized, each sniper throwing more heated slugs down into her personal guard to further ensure a smoothness in future actions. His smile widened when he realized his shot hadn’t killed his target immediately, the oversized round had merely punched through her and left her bleeding out on the floor. He knew deep down that she’d die anyway, there was no fix for the damage already done, but his hatred burned brighter and hotter than his reasoning. He racked another round.

“ **_You Leave Me Broken, Shattered, I Lie_ ** _ ” _

Hatred fueled him, nothing less than a demon’s hunger, to fire half the remaining clip in a step-pattern up towards her; leaving enough space between them that she could see he was walking them up to her, building fear and anxiety for when he would finally end it. His heart raced in joy at her screams for help in those final moments, tasting nothing but enjoyment as he watched her finally give up; seeing that there would be no savior. The horribly shattered soul within smiled.

The russet figure snapped a paw up to stop the action of his rifle from cycling on it’s own, choosing to rack his final round himself; savoring the heavy weight of the steel-jacketed payload before he gracefully pressed it in and slid the action shut. Breathing slowing to take several extra moments to ensure the absolute perfectness of his aim before letting every remaining iota of air from his lungs and crushing the trigger with the righteous fury of every mammal betrayed, lied to and hurt by the monster before him. The round jetted in a burst of quickly dissipating flame, diving forward in search of blood; making the massive distance paltry in how it was discarded. It crashed into the ewe’s stubby muzzle with far more force than a speeding truck, erasing her entire skull in a frightening cloud of red mist as it punched through her, the floor of the stage and then to crush itself and the concrete below it into shrapnel with it’s sheer momentum.

He wasted no time in beginning to break down his rifle, taking special care to place each piece within it’s little alcove within the instrument-shaped hard case he’d packed it in. “Alpha, Trophy Confirmed” he stated calmly, already racing down the stairs towards what had once been a beautiful lobby. Slipping out through a missing window on the side-facade of the construction and then onto the nearby sidewalk to continue on as if he were just another downtrodden muzzle on his way home from a long day of arduous and soul-crushing work.

“Specters,” the angry voice growled, “Good Hunt boys, we’re clear of the big game trophies already” he sounded mildly surprised, “Come back to HQ for debrief, we’ve already got our next targets ready to go.”

The russet fox smiled, his green eyes glowed dangerously in the street-light, taking in each breath of fear-tinted air with a hunger saved only for a select few; meandering down towards the city center with a lazy and preternaturally calm gait.

 


	16. Songs - Prayer In C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second of my writer's block pieces, thankfully, It seems like I might be getting through this quicker than I last thought. However, I am enjoying adapting songs into prompts and may continue this practice whenever I get stuck in writers block in the future. I do hope you enjoy, any questions, prompts, comments or concerns are all welcome.
> 
> \- Leroi

Judy picked herself up from her desk slowly, having fallen asleep while working only to come face to face with her boss. “Chief” she saluted with as much force as her sleep-deprived form could muster.

       “There’ll be time for that later Sergeant” he placed a small manilla envelope onto her desk, “Mail from central” he said simply, stepping back out through the door and into the hallway where he promptly disappeared.

She reached over, turning the package around until she found the small clasps holding it shut, springing it open to lift the tab. A lazy yawn pulled from her tired form as she lifted them from within, a strangled gasp tearing free as her body reacted on instinct; nearly sending her into a hysterical fit of coughing. The first image sent the gasp back up from her throat in the form of bile before sliding down her spine in the form of a vicious shudder. A close up of none other than herself at her first press conference, backed by photos of savage predators and a beatifically smiling ewe beside her.

**_“Don’t Think I Could Believe You”_ **

Curiosity would certainly kill this cat, Judy continued to pull more of the polaroid style pictures from where they had been placed; now more unsettled than ever. Her paw rocketed up to her maw, desperately trying to block out her gasp of horror; each picture far more graphic than the last, mountains of bodies and pools of blood connecting each picture to her; more accurately, her meteoric rise through the ranks at the ZPD. She placed it back on the desk face down, closing her eyes and running a nervous paw down her muzzle as she took in the evidence before her; each item had been painstakingly perfected to ensure that she was not only visible, but so too was undeniable evidence of the horrors that the predatory populous had faced. Gaunt faces, beaten, battered or bruised. Proof enough that she was at least complicit in the actions that Bellwether was fully interested in being responsible for.

**_“See the children are starving”_ **

Her desk radio continued it’s low hum, it’s words long since drowned out in her own thundering heartbeat. The next image, the Happytown slums, a horrible, nightmarish view of the ruined lives and murdered creatures she’d inadvertently used as stepping stones to rise through the ranks. Even her steeled emotions couldn’t hide the small tear beginning to foster at the edge of her vision, with it welled the pent up pain from seeing to it personally; eyes unconsciously tracing the gaunt frames of kits who’d gone far too long without food, their bellies swollen and protruding- surefire signs of the damage the malnutrition was surely causing. Judy pressed a well-chewed digit into her mouth and idly nibbled on the nail, anything to abate the emotions writhing just below the surface.

**_“Their houses were destroyed”_ **

She didn’t notice the shifting shadow at the back of her private office, perks of her new rank. When the small plants opposite her desk rustled, her attention tore away, guiltily, from the photos; locking onto the darkness. The light rustle looked as though it’d just been the wind, her office window open wider than she’d swore she’d left it, but that was far from the pertinent issue. Unable to help herself, her eyes riveted back to the photos spilling from the folder, the still-shot proof of her malpractice dousing her heart in searing flames.

**_“Don't think they could forgive you”_ **

The mass graves. She dropped the photo to her desk, shivering from emotions locked away. The photo adorned her desk with a front row seat to the deep pit full of matted fur and flesh, she could easily discern the clouds of flies swarming the slowly rotting carcasses at the bottom; she could see children, women, men. This was a catalyst, Judy pressed a paw to her heart as if to steady the endless thumping, it pained her endlessly, but she couldn’t do anything. She tried to convince herself that there was nothing she could have done to prevent it, nothing.

She unconsciously dropped into her seat, having failed to steady herself, “ **_Don’t Think I could Believe You_ ** ” the words bit deep, she spun around, catching the dimmed lights of the after-hours lights having come on at some point, continuing her spin; hoping to find the source of the words. “H-hello?” she hazarded in the dim desk-light of her office room, there was no reply, but she could hear breathing, slow and steady.

Judy moved to turn back to her desk only to find that the space she’d left the photos on now held a familiar appearing creature, lounging with his legs off the edge of her desk was a fox. “ **_Hello Judith_ ** ” his tone was clipped, angry and seething, but containing an almost clinical distaste; as if he were looking at a barnacle stuck to the keel of a boat or littler left to the pavement.

“Who are you!?” she asked angrily, noting that the figure before her wore nothing but a patchy pair of pants and a dingy shawl, her gaze drifted upwards angrily at the dirty figure’s appearance- their face still cloaked in the room’s relative din. “You can’t be here!” she gritted out, thankful that she’d gotten the opportunity to focus herself on something other than the photos “The offices are out of limits for civilians!” her tone took a hard edge as she tried her best to fight through the warnings her mind were printing out before her.

The fox reached up to his face, slicking back his ears as he went, drawing her eyes up to his own directly for the first time; revealing their sickeningly green hue before her breath caught in her throat at the ivory head-case he wore. “ **_Yes, my my, do you like it Judith?_ ** ” asked the figure as he ran a paw across the skeletal feature, “ **_I do find it to be one of my most defining features_ ** ,” he smiled, revealing twinning pairs of teeth as the second skull moved together and apart seamlessly with his maw “ **_Visually that is_ ** _”_. She blanched at the sight, almost vomiting at his tone when he smiled. In response, the fox merely stood up and stepped with her, following her into the furthest and darkest corner of her office; shrouding both of their figures in near complete darkness save for his nauseating glare of his glistering emeralds and that sickening double-smile, leaving them as her only mode to judge the fox’s distance.

“ ** _You really don’t remember me?_** _”_ his smile stretched wider; finally wide enough to reveal some tufts of crimson fur that weren’t held beneath the macabre mask, as he addressed her directly “ ** _When I first thought about this whole thing, I figured you would have been a better mammal… you know?_** _”_ he didn’t wait for her answer, “ ** _But I suppose that’d be wishful thinking, I’d even once thought of just letting you go… once_** ” the figure’s presence abated for a moment, the swift sound of movement giving her pause as the clinical ‘ _click’_ of her office door sounded off from the din. A sigh of relief blew out of her small frame as the lights flicked on to reveal one of her newfound coworkers, the lackadaisical mammal stomped over her frightened demeanor as soon as he put one foot into the room, already beginning to speak.

       “Hey, Ju-” Officer Ramsworth had started, his wool and uniform clad form suddenly freezing to the spot as the vital column running down from his skull snapped, blood trickling into his pale wool from the corner of his mouth immediately before the dead officer dropped to his knees and then facedown on her office carpet. “ **_But now?_ ** ” offered the macabre fox, stepping forward with tufts of bloody wool and flesh hanging off his claws.

“ ** _I don’t think I could let you_ ** ”


	17. Songs - Ain't No Grave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Found myself listening to some old music (Johnny Cash Ain't No Grave) earlier this week and had this rattling around in my mind. Since I couldn't sleep it out, I figured I'd write it out. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to leave a note at the bottom. Thanks for reading, I hope you've enjoyed. 
> 
> \-- Leroi

**_There Ain’t no grave that can body down_ **

 

Nick could barely stay conscious as the rain of blows reached uncountable numbers and the blank spaces between rose in consistency. The real pain he felt was that he’d leave his partner early, he’d promised her he wouldn’t; he’d promised her that he’d protect her to the end. A light huff escaped him, grating against the constant sound of droplets of his blood pattering against the concrete below. With the last of his strength, he promised to himself once more that he’d do his best to stay for  **_her_ ** the only thing that mattered to him. 

The surrounding mammals, ranging from medium to large, closed back in as soon as they realized he was back among the conscious, ready to ply their brutal craft once more. He swallowed his tears, clenching his cracked maw through the pain as yet more blows rained in. He felt the last few healthy ribs in his chest crack in and cave as his time came to an end, his torn uniform stained with his own blood; radio drowned in it and his badge sitting upon the ground merely inches from the tips of his toes. The final punch came from a recognisable face, Raymond had truly been too often a sight at the Big family compound to forget, the blow caved in the now flimsy protector that nature had called a rib-cage; puncturing his left lung and shredding his heart as the follow-through sent him swinging in his chains. The fox’s final gasp was less that and more a gurgling cough as blood tried to escape with his last breath, sending a small trickle down his chin as the cunning light faded from his eyes; leaving them glassy as they fogged over.

  
  


**_When I hear that trumpet sound I’ma rise right outa’ the ground_ **

 

The rain pattered against the windshield of her cruiser, silent contemplation and close cracks of thunder were her only friends. She’d gone over her superior’s head again, this time however, it was infinitely more important. They’d managed to triangulate positions for where they’d taken her fox, the old Priderock Church on the outskirts of Tundra-Town; she placed her off-paw onto the slide of her trusty service pistol and pulled the slide back. She softly cracked her door open, stepping out into the harsh weather; taking a moment of clarity to press the call button on her radio, ‘ _ Just in case’ _ she told herself, hoping it wouldn’t come to that. The walk through the hallowed grounds was long, not for lack of effort, the small lapine’s hustle through the rain was far quicker than most had probably ever traveled the small stone path; especially if the uneasy footing was anything to go by. 

Judy’d studied the triangulated map long enough to know exactly where she’d go, to know exactly where these monster’s had spent their time toiling away with her partner. She’d finally get him back, the lone thought itself gave her enough adrenaline to breeze through the obvious markers that absolutely drowned the stale mausoleum air; caring not for the unlocked gate, nor for the already lit state of the occasional brazier, nor for the buzzing sound of lazy flies. All signs that would have brought caution and fear into a right mind, were wasted on the giddy and nearly manic expression of the lapine officer.

 

**_Well, look way down the river, what do you think I see?_ **

  
  


Her light air and all but controllable humming froze to the spot as she came to the end of the twisted building, the air chilled and her soul cracked. Laying in a pile of mostly rotten fur and long gone flesh lay what remained of her partner, friend, even her mind choked up as she dropped to her knees; the pain in her heart bringing the indomitable Officer Hopps down. “N-nnoo” her lower lip quivered as she failed to cry; her tears dried to the spot, and a lump rose into her throat. Judy didn’t even react when a voice blossomed from a dimly lit corner, unthinking and unfeeling as the polar bears stepped into the light. Judy’s ears filled with grating static as her world started to crumble apart at the edges, she could feel the pain in her chest deepening. 

Her pistol fell to the ground, unable to be held in her weakened grip as a rot-tainted breeze blew through the marble structure. Judy’s posture slumped further to the ground as her eyes found themselves glued to what had once been Nick’s lively muzzle, reduced to a half covered skull forever grinning in the dim firelight. The longer she looked, the clearer it became that he’d been through hell before giving up his last; a clear fracture on a visible patch of skull, missing teeth dotting his bent muzzle, the pile of bones beneath his crumpled chest were a mockery of ribs. She would have continued looking had a large paw not swiveled her to face it’s owner. ‘ **_BIG_ ** _ ’ _ she thought to herself, the shrew was talking, but she couldn’t hear his words, one of the bear’s started talking, but his voice too was quickly lost in the endless static roiling between her ears. With a choked sob, Judy fumbled numbly for her pistol, lifting the heavy piece towards the target she desired. She nearly made it too, only a couple more inches and she’d have had the damn rat in her sights cleanly, but it made to difference now; resigning herself to the fate of her partner. “No offense Miss Hopps, it’s strictly business” Judy smiled as the racket faded from her senses, leaving her alone opposite the monsters that’d no doubt killed her partner.

Before Raymond’s fist could even pull back, a biting wind pulled through the marble structure; a heavy clang sounded from the egress, signalling that the gate had swung shut. Believing it to be more of Big’s men, Judy closed her eyes, ready to join her beloved partner. Raymond let out a huff as his fist rocketed forward, Judy tightened in on herself. But the pain never came, the flash of light from being knocked in a loop never swung into and out of view. She gently let her eyes open, finding herself in the same position she was left, facing the three polar bears and their ‘ _ godfather’ _ . 

“What?” she coughed out, confused in that she could see the bear’s fist, but not have been struck by the titanic blow. Her confusion bled up to the frightened and fearful expressions that they held leading her to trace her gaze back down the mighty ursine appendage, watching as the pale fur was broken up by streaks of dirty off white and patchy, dirty red.

Kevin, the bear to the right of Raymond, screamed as he took in the macabre sight. The fox they’d beaten to death was somehow far less dead than they’d thought. It’s eyelessly grinning muzzle brought a wave of nausea up from his core as he tried to back up, finding the sheer marble face of a wall behind him. Raymond tried to pull his arm back from the animated bones with a harsh tug, the skeleton complied; pulling a long set of bony claws into a spiral around the limb as it pulled free; painting the marble floor red with a jet from a crucial artery. Big shuddered in his seat as the fallen fox’s muzzle creaked open several inches in a silent scream before it leapt at them, the brazier’s well kept flames being devoured in another rush of sub-zero wind. Judy’s world twisted black to the sound of gurgling cried and whimpered pain, feeling warm and protected from her very center.

 

**_And if these wings don't fail me I will meet you anywhere_ **

 

“Of-i-er -opps!” the voice sounded distant and quiet, she rolled to her side; trying to avoid the voices that seemed to be growing in intensity. Judy’s world flickered back into existence, the timely and efficient beat of the pulse monitor continued singing out; proof enough she’d lived through the encounter.

As soon as the stinging feeling dissipated, she found it far easier to focus on the figure sharing the dark room with her. “C-chief” she coughed out, throat hoarse and dry from dehydration and cold.

“Save your strength Hopps” he paused, taking his spectacles off and placing them into his breast pocket. “We’ll talk about what happened at Priderock tomorrow, you get some rest” he smiled, she would never get used to how foreign it looked on the stoic visage of the Chief. When he saw the worry flicker across her small features, he turned back to fully face her. “Please, rest, there are officers standing guard outside” before he stepped through the doorway and slid the door shut with a soft ‘click’.

Bogo made a pit stop in the bathroom on his way out, taking a personal moment to run through the harrowing scene in his mind before turning to wash his hands. When his eyes raised up from the sink to his own reflection in the massive wall-mirror, he came face to face with a horrid representation of his once vulpine officer. Nick stood, half skeleton half corpse, on the level of the counter so that he would only have to tilt his skull a couple degrees to make eye (socket) contact with his former boss. Bogo jumped back in shock at the sight of the specter standing before him, looking down to make sure that the dead fox wasn’t truly in front of him before he looked back at the reflection.

Adonis felt his gut churn uneasily as the fox’s mouth creaked shut, a skeletal claw touching the far edge of the mirror and scratching at the reflected side. The buffalo’s curiosity won out over his horror, reading out what lay before, “M-I-N-E” he repeated out, “Mine protect” he paused, “Mine to protect?” he asked to the horrid corpse, Nick’s skeletally grinning muzzle nodded slowly as he sunk backwards into the depths of the reflection and disappeared. 

Bogo vowed to take the next week off, after he got Hopp’s account of course, the thought of being too old for this line of work rattled around for a couple heated moments as he rushed out of the building; eager to find himself in the safety of his own home. He almost could have left it as a daydreamed nightmare from all the stress if not for the crimson figure standing in the window of the now darkened window on the Hospital’s second floor; flashing a skeletal smile in his rearview mirror as a bolt of lightning touched down.


	18. Sanguine Spawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when bloody dark-soulsborne becomes a valid expenditure of time. A mix of bloodborne and Zootopia, I am unsure if there will be more to this but I quite like the AU setting perhaps pending different changes to the story

_**Hunter's Dream** _

When existence blinked back into being, everything was completely and unapologetically absent, suddenly, strangely. No words came to mind and no thoughts came to fruition, the last thing she could remember was a bright flash and a creciendo of pain before the darkness ended and then began the loop once more. Quickly, she flashed back up to speed, the final moments bleeding back to her like visions of a distant past; splashes of blood and a guttural scream before she fell to the blood-plague, becoming a clerical beast like the others, “ _ Master Laurence _ ” her follow-up thought. “ _ Forgive me… for I have failed” _ it would have brought a tear to her shrouded face, if she was still in one piece. Suddenly, a lonely light sparked into existence; brightening her corner of eternal darkness and illuminating an arm as it reached inwards towards her point of vantage. She paused internally as a thickly gloved paw snapped around the scruff of her neck as if she were just a pup and lifted upwards, drawing back into the light. “ _ Flowers?” _ she wondered, blanched with the myriad scents and pale color of the massive field.

“ **_Great Vicar_ ** ” the voice came from everywhere, blanching all and narrowing her vision onto a cloaked figure; standing on their lonesome against the backdrop of pale flowers. “ **_I yet have need of you_ ** ” Nichole recoiled at the thought, everything flashed back before her once more as it all made sense. She’d finally been slain, her watch was over! But now such was no longer the case. Nichole couldn’t even feel it as she was unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

From her position below the figure, she could only see the hunter’s silhouette as the ghastly bright moon shrouded their figure from her questing vision. Nichole looked only moments longer before her fears were corroborated. With a flash of red light, the pale moon was replaced by the blood moon and the Huntress’s features were revealed to be a ruse; her tentacled form revealing the eldritch truth that had been revealed to her in the final moments before her tragic fall to the mania and beyond. 

“ ** _I cannot allow the scourge to continue_** ” the thing spoke; form becoming enshrouded in the pale moon once more as she began working quickly to splay out her massive form. Taking care to press long needles deep into the flesh of her scourge-ridden form and using a scant-ly spared moment to return her long lost medallion to her grasp before stepping back to watch as the tubes filled with dark red. “ ** _I must apologize, you’ve earned your rest and now I must call you back_** ” Nichole couldn’t move, realization slowly spread. “ _I must_ **_still_** _be dead!”_  the realization was nearly as horrifying as the truth it cemented into her mind.

Nichole’s vast and beastly form smoked and writhed as her additional stature evaporated from her body; the cracked antlers that adorned her scalp broke off and her claws shattered like glass and she began to move once more as the blood stitched her body back together. When at last her body was fully mended, the Huntress leaned forward once more; regarding her ruined clothes hanging from her form with a critical eye, “ **_Your mind lacked enough vision…_ ** ” the mammal reached up and sliced through her blindfold with negligent effort before grasping her skull with one paw and bringing the other up level with the Vicar’s bleached eyes and began to carve into their soft surface.  

“ **_You will come to understand the necessity of vision, it will protect you from the madness in your veins_ ** _ ” _ she continued to work, twisting and pressing with a single claw to carve one of Caryll’s many runes; the first being the rune of the Eye, it finished shortly after the fifth turn, leaving the complicated star to adorn the Vicar’s left eye before starting on her irght with both a renewed purpose and a different choice of rune. “ **_You must see through the veil, if you are to prey on those who enter_ ** _ ” _ , the second rune was that of the Beast’s Embrace, it’s coiled claws barely fit onto the small canvas that Nichole’s eye offered. With a short huff, the figure finished her crude craft and removed her paw from the canid’s face just in time to see the Vicar’s eyes flash green with the forbidden power of the runes before Nichole’s lids slid shut.

The vixen spent only another couple moments donned only in her torn rags and sans her covering before the Eldritch hunter before her clapped her paws together; a bright flash cut into the pale moonlight, bleeding red for several seconds before snapping back into pale light. Nichole felt her maw move for the first time in an eternity, “W-who are you?”

The figure frowned grimly, “ **_Do you not remember me Vicar?_ ** _ ” _ the words conveyed a sense of familiarity, “ **_It matters not, a gift of rest was all that we exchanged_ ** _ ”  _ the figure continued forward, a flowing arm beckoning her forward towards the building. “ **_Vicar… I must make a request of you, to serve your people once more._ ** _ ”  _ Nichole nodded her assent, already far too grateful for the second chance to protect her people.

During the short walk, Nichole reached up with her other paw to bring the veil back over her eyes; surprised that the material felt far sturdier and softer than any she’d ever experienced before. “What do you need?” determination filled her voice, purpose reaffirmed; old blood pumping through her veins.

* * *

**_Hemwick Village - Thirteenth Night -_ **

 

Once again, Nichole brought the pendant up to her muzzle, leaning forward to mutter her final praise towards her deity of worship, “Karma, hear me, for I judge in thy name” she lifted up, clenching her fist onto the pommel of the sword clasped to her back; it’s massive blade appearing almost comically large within her grasp. “Karma, I pray thou may take those lost unto thy shadow; for I send thy flock home” she chanted, words growing in strength as she walked forward across the small stonework bridge that secluded the cathedral. The first of many savage beasts dove forward, meeting halfway with the broad blade; it’s body folding inwards with the sheer force behind the slash, the Vicar’s potent strength far from lost. 

Nichole dove forward, diving into a roll that sent her skittering beneath a broad swipe from yet another rabid beast; using the pommel of her blade to crush the ribcage the beast before pivoting harshly to spin her sword in a wide arc to slice through yet more of the horrid creatures. With the blade’s sheer size, there was immediately trouble maintaining adequate distance between herself and the corrupted monsters; a single lucky swipe pulling the flesh on her back into ribbons, there was no time to scream as her body crashed towards the floor.

She growled weakly at the pain, the smell of the Old Blood rich in her nostrils; the beasts could smell it too, warily shifting away from the potent smell. “ **_HAAAAAA!_ ** _ ” _ she screamed, blazing up from the cobbles with a wreath of sunset-flame. The vixen took several more brutal slashes before the boiling blood forced her fire outward- covering her blade in a wreath of murderous rage; each swipe both cut and burned her prey, none could- none should- escape her righteous fury.

She continued to hack, slash and burn away the remaining corruption that plagued Hemwick; “ _ The church failed them… I will not let them suffer” _ the demanding calling of her resurrection brought an unequal fervor to her actions, driving far more than her might. For thirteen cycles, she’d scorched through the threads of daylight and devoured the moonlight as it guided her blade through all that stood in her way; each cut, scrape, slash and burn she received was naught but ablution for her failure. The church had been far from a hoax, they had meant well; they  **_had_ ** cared, but now? They had failed, the healing they promised did naught but begin the endemic that ruined the land; all their good will gone to waste.

Nichole continued to hungrily devour through their corpulent masses in time with the rising moon, and tearing through the night like a falling star. Finding her lonesome self gracing a lone patch of cathedral cobble with her holy presence as the fresh sun rose above the valley’s high edges, triangular ears twitching at the sound of the sunlight’s purity burning away piles of tainted flesh from the streets.

* * *

**_Hemwick Outskirts - Charnel Lane_ **

 

Judas lazily grasped the haft of one of his throwing knives, twisting the blade and handle back and forth through the air until he was comfortable it would fly true. The rabbit had been lazily tossing his knives into a nearby tree for a scant hour after he readied, cooked and ate his dinner. “ _ Where to now?” _ he wondered, pulling his hole-riddled and blood stained parchment out from his overcoat, his already traveled path colored in with graphite from it’s harrowing start in Old Yarnham to the ghastly forest above Byrgenwerth and now here; his sharp eyes pulled up to the old road-sign. “ _ To Hemwick _ …  _ then back to Zootopia and the Burrows” _ . He knew he had planned on taking the long path, skirting to the nearest capital city to warn as many as he could before returning home; it was worth it, it had to be.

As it turned out, Judas breached the stone walls of Hemwick barely an hour later, Charnel Lane had followed the river all the way down and appeared as if it continued through the town “ _ my way out” _ he beamed. Just after he passed the large gateway, the cobble road transitioned smoothly from the uneven roadwork to a beautiful granite. Judas couldn’t help but wonder where the town’s inhabitants had gone to, there were no mammals bustling around the would-be busy town center nor were there any crazed blood-beasts either. As he got closer to the town center the buildings began to show signs of struggle and combat; the sheer scale of the destruction was mind boggling in some places, swaths of granite were scorched and splintered and deep rivulets scattered the ground in all directions.

“Hello!” he called out, shuddering at the erie sound of his own voice bouncing back from so many different routes along the empty town, the rabbit sighed, Hemwick was one of the furthest towns from Yharnam, even if the scourge had progressed this far, it wouldn’t have; couldn’t have overtaken the populace so fast. “ _ Surely” _ he reasoned to himself, padding down the empty street with the glowering sunlight at his back.

“ **_Huah!_ ** _ ” _

The scream was horridly misplaced in the empty town, but even so, it was far unwanted. The scant few moments of being alone in the ghost town had given him some rather intense jitters. He quickly sped forward, his calling as a hunter of the order driving him to get to the source as fast as he could muster. He burst out into the town’s religious center with enough haste to carry him more than halfway across a sturdy stonework that bridged the gap between the town’s sectors; visually confirming the source of the sounds, one figure dueling with two others. On the church’s hallowed grounds no less!

The lone figure, garbed in the mixed red and white of the healing church’s high clergy stood alone against the two hunters with a frenzy the battle-hardened lapine rarely experienced. He watched for a long moment, cataloguing the two attackers by eye before he dared cross the boundary and join the fray, if he chose to. With the odd kit the clergywoman carried, she stacked up in a foreign manner. The sword seemed far too long to prove useful in such a fluid environment; but she managed nonetheless. To Judas’s trained eye, the cleric was clearly a formally trained combatant diving and dipping between crazed strikes and levying her own in free moments that would have made even the best dig in.

Judas’s sideline watching cut short as the lone figure snapped forward like a bolt of lightning, dropping one paw off the long handle to use as a lever against the decorative granite just in time to spear through the defence of the first hunter, lifting the mortally wounded mammal as a shield against its partner; a strangled gurgle tore free when the hunter was struck by their own teammate before the holy mammal struck back out with their sword, burying it through the final figure with a series of crunches and cracks. There had been no space to run, nowhere to hide and it was far too late to block or duck; the sharp edge tore back out through the figure with fury unbridled, sending his torn remnants fluttering to the ground.

The lapine approached the canid figure, “Are you here to challenge me?” the now obviously feminine figure demanded, panting softly from exertion.

Judas moved to quickly dissuade her belief, only to have his eye catch on her pendant; still hanging on the decorative rosary from her russet grip. “Where did you get  **that** ” he demanded, demeanor shifting as he attempted to put together who the mammal before him truly was.

“It is  **mine** ” she answered, calmly and coldly.

Judas leaned forward, attempting to grasp at the pendant before being backhanded to the ground; shuffling for his weapon only to find the massive sword once again in her grip and pointed downward at him. “Are you here to challenge me!” she demanded once more, her now visible face showing off the blinding shroud she wore.

The lapine gulped, “Look, miss?” he furthered, continuing in hope, “I just want to leave, I have to get back to my family… in the burrows, it has been many cycles since I have seen them…”

The vixen sighed, lifting the blade up and slamming it point first into the ground, “Then you are here to challenge me” she solemnly stated, “I suppose it cannot be helped” she sounded pained at the realization.

“Why?” he asked, clearly unsure of her reasoning. “Why does that mean I am here to challenge you?”

“I am Vicar Nichole, last of the High Clergy” her voice cracked with sorrow at the notion of her own title, “Avenger of the lost” the lapine quickly found her deceptively powerful grip raising him off the cobbles and to his paws. “Draw your weapons  **_Hunter_ ** , face me!” the lurch of her sword lifting from the courtyard gave him pause.

“Why do you wish to duel me?” he asked once more, taking a single step backwards from the vulpine creature.

“The Old Blood caused the affliction… I cannot allow anything afflicted by it’s power beyond this town, as a hunter~” she answered, leaving him to fill in the blanks.

“But I am not mad!” he stated, “I am sane! In control!” a hopeful light blinked though his visage, “Can I just leave my remaining blood vials with you? Can I leave any infected gear with you and be allowed to leave?!” he was beginning to sound like a poor beggar, pleading for his very life.

“No” her voice was as hard as her visage, Judas now saw he would find no ground against the battle-hardened vixen. Refusing yet to draw his weapons, the rabbit pressed a paw to his muzzle, “ _ where… where have I heard that name, that title” _ his thoughts swirled for several blank seconds before winding back down.

“I heard you died” he blurted out, “I heard that you fell to the blood several weeks back and were slain by that hunter from the south” he watched closely, seeing a brief grimace flicker across at the mention; he took his vocal ground and pressed onwards. “If you are dead, long since fallen to the blood” he murmured, stepping yet still closer; assuming much from his previous travels in the afflicted land.

“I should be able too~” he trailed off, walking directly into her chest; falling to the ground with an undignified ‘oof’ as her solid frame blocked his path. “What are you doing?” she asked, morbidly intrigued by the strange creature. Unbeknownst to the vixen, a small horde of armored soldiers were stamping their way through the town from the outside road; just as she raised her blade to end their encounter.

“ **_HALT!_ ** _ ” _

The addition of ponderous footsteps and booming voice caused her to cease the strike, pulling the weapon down to a resting position as she turned to face them; not yet speaking as her etheric eyes took in the troops. “More challengers?” she asked, clearly not understanding their purpose for arrival.

“ **_We are from the Nation of Animalia!_ ** _ ”  _ the mammal in flashy gold-leafed armor called out, “ **_We have come to retrieve this so-called Old Blood for our emperor!_ ** _ ” _

The Vicar smiled, her lack of even the most basic normality had already drawn her sanity thin, the thirteen day and night marathon of slaughter with more than a few duels mixed in had left her at wits end, she laughed; a deep roiling laugh that was twenty percent deeply pained, twenty more percent hilarity and a full sixty percent crazed mania. Her warped perception failed her when the soldiers advanced towards the bridge, upon finally seeing their movement, she let go of her power; allowing the runes behind the bandages to glow fiercely while they ate away the shroud of normalcy.

Judas crawled backwards away from her, now standing hunched over and continuing with random bursts of demented chuckles, the entire world had broken; “ _ shattered” _ he thought to himself. The sight of the orange nightmare-sun hanging threateningly over the horizon with the normal one shifted to an angry shade of red directly overhead sent the soldiers into a fearful rage; charging forward towards her with abandon.

“ **_Kill the beast!_ ** _ ” _

The cohort of soldiers heeded their commander, diving forward for their own attempt at the life of the fox. Nichole took their advancement in tactics in stride, hurling herself forward with little thought for self-preservation, “ **_Ha! Ahahahaa!_ ** _ ” _ she streamed, fighting with unnatural strategy as soldiers fell by the pawful. Judas watched from the wayside as she continued to laugh until a spear’s long haft buried itself through her chest, sending the canine stumbling back to her starting position and down to one knee where she lifted her pendant back up; seemingly unaffected by the fatal wound as she continued to keep the armored mammals at bay with one-armed swings of her massive blade, occasional gouts of blood erupting from her wounds and maw.

In a moment of shared craze, Judas sniffed the air, “ _ sweet” _ he thought, “ _ like midsummer dew…  _ **_the blood!_ ** _ ” _ the dots connected quickly. The Vicar was clearly bleeding out, but the only thing she bled was the Old Blood, a physical impossibility; but so was the sheer fact of her life. He hunched inwardly, returning back to his thoughts from underneath one of the many cracked pews.

Nichole’s wounds mounted, impossible gallons of blood poured from her wounds yet she would not fall, she could not. “ **_Why_ ** _ ”  _ she demanded, drawing a line in the bloody cobbles with her sword whilst snapping the spear’s haft from her body with a harsh grunt and questioning glare “ **_Why even bother_ ** _ ”  _ her words met with more splashing blood, from her wounds and the bodies of the many felled mammals. She could smell the fear and unease in the mammal that commanded these unthinking fools.

“ **_W-what are you waiting for! KILL IT, IT’S WOUNDED!_ ** _ ” _

Nichole had barely another scant moment before an incalculable weight descended onto her, the now only half-manned war party leapt onto her in a frenzy of hurried and frightened stabs, slashes, pummeling blows and screams. Her pendant grew warm in her paw and her body broke; spine popping and snapping as each and every one of her vertebrae, ribs and joints as her body exploded and began to reform through an old transmutation. She could  **_feel_ ** more than smell the fear radiating off the bodies that had been flung from her massive form, she could  **_taste_ ** more than see their presence, her hunger grew strong.

Judas’s mouth dropped open, his earlier notions of the Vicar having fallen to the blood scourge were correct; undeniably so. But here she now stood, towering well around two stories in height and appeared far different than the few depictions he had heard of her beastly demise, nor did she resemble any scourge-beast he’d ever fought before. Her impeccable coat glowed orange like a dying star; but wasn’t patchy or thinned by the scourge, her claws shone like ivory daggers in her sundering glow, but even they weren’t broken and shattered like most other scourge creatures. His shocked gaze shifted upwards to her savage visage, a titanic muzzle proudly displaying a veritable trove of pale daggers and to the very precipice of her skull where her shroud had maintained it’s faithful position and twinning pairs antlers of magnificent and divine nature sprouted above; each branching out into wondrous and sharp points as if a testament to the canid’s faith.

“ **_I will pray for you_ ** _ ” _ she stated sagely, massive jaws moving with purpose, Judas’s mouth fell open. “ _ She spoke!” _ his mind hurtled around, “ _ is she not fallen to the blood!? Is she  _ **_NOT_ ** _ a savage?” _ he continued to shuffle further backwards beneath the pews while the massive and monstrous vixen continued to slaughter at greater and greater rates. 

Nichole surged forward, brushing off sword strikes and spear thrusts with nary a thought; smashing her massive paws downwards and raking her impossibly sharp claws over the cobbles to tear apart anything that strayed too close. Judas found himself nibbling his own claws in worry, watching the magnificent creature struggle against the few soldiers remaining from the company; eyes firmly riveted to how easily she shrugged off the injuries and dished out more than double with equal measure.

When the bloody field emptied out, the commander looked around himself in shock; barely able to comprehend the sight before him. “ **N-no!** ” he called out, hoping any of his felled, long since dead soldiers could once more support him. Nichole’s body slowed to a stop, padding up to the bridge to come close enough for her superheated breath to flow out onto him. “ **This is madness!** ” he screamed, “ **Monsters! Lies! Slander! Witchcraft!** ”

“ **_Shhh_ ** _ ”  _ the fox’s almost motherly tone showed an instant effect as the commander calmed against his will, his expression softening and his posture slacking. “ **_Let go… let it all go_ ** _ ”  _ she murmured, massive maw moving slowly. Judas’s rapt attention warped into morbid curiosity as her steel-trap of a maw opened and slid around the figure; slamming shut with striking force before shaking the military figure and hurling the bottom half of his ruined corpse from her jaws as the other slid down her gullet.

Nichole’s massive body crouched low, leaning her head down to finish her prayer; a bright light suffusing her pelt in the final rays of the crashing sun. She then reigned in some of her power, drawing back her runes to allow the veil of reality to slip back into place and shroud the horrible truth lingering beneath the surface. She turned to pad over to where she could clearly feel the rabbit’s presence only to come face to face with a familiar figure.

“ **_Great Hunter_ ** _ ”  _ she rushed, bowing her front half down to the ground as if the magnificent beast of fury and starfire was unworthy of what dared to stand before her, _ “ _ **_I have kept this pass clear_ ** _ ” _

The heavily cloaked figure nodded, drawing a paw up; resulting in the lapine’s immediate and unwilling extraction from the church’s interior. “ **Vicar, there is more I yet must ask of you. The scourge has traveled quickly** ” the luminous hunter took the lapine’s souring expression in stride, “ **It has surpassed the Laketown defences and has spilled out towards the lands bordering the Burrows** ” The hunter could see that she had both of their interest as she continued.

“ **You must** **_both_ ** **go, this task will need** **_both_ ** **of you for any hope to surpass this challenge** _ ” _

The lapine regarded the towering vixen with equal measures fear and wonder, watching closely as the same sunset-flame wreathed her body once more; almost burning his eyes as she condensed back to the form he’d seen before, a holy woman and her well-kept attire. Nichole bowed low, “As you wish” before turning to face the hunter being held in the air, “Quickly now, we must go” Judas was immediately dropped from the ethereal grip, slamming into the cobbles paws first, “Leave your vials of blood, you’ll have no need for them” the vixen’s perfect teeth glinted in a brief smile as she forged a quick pace in the direction of the main road, forcing the lapine to hastily leap to catch up.

“And if I don’t want to~” he nearly finished his statement only to find the vixen’s monstrous strength latched around his throat, nearly crushing his windpipe as his back collided with a ruined pillar, “You” she started, visibly shaking with rage. “Will do  **_no_ ** such thing, the Great Hunter called for your service, you  **_will_ ** do as she asks” Judas was trying and failing to desperately suck in a breath, Nichole dropped him numbly to the floor with anger; he could see the green rage glowing beneath her shroud.

“B-” he coughed painfully for a second, regaining some composure, “without my blood I will be unable to heal” he reasoned, finding her grinning visage lowering down to close in on his own.

“ **_I_ ** will heal you” she stated matter of factly, “you have no use for the blood because I will minister to you and your wounds” with that, she turned once more to the long road ahead, “Come now little hunter, we have a long journey ahead”

“F-fucking hell” he ground out in a hoarse voice just as he managed to find his wobbly footing.


End file.
